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AMERICANS IN 
EUROPE 



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COPTKIGHT, 1893, BY 
TAIT, SONS & COMPANY 



THE LIBRARTi 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINGTOHl 






TROW DIRECTORY 

PRINTINQ AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 

NEW YOKK 



OONTEE'TS. 



PAGZ: 

I, Introduction, 1 

II. Americans in Paris, . . . . . 11 

III. The American Dentist, . ». . . .23 

IV. A Heroic Minister Plenipotentiary, . 29 
V. American Editors in Paris, . . . .37 

VI. The American Church in Paris, . . 41 

VII. American Artists in Paris, . . . .50 

VIII. The American Girl in Paris, ... 54 

IX. American Students in Paris, . . , .62 
X. Protestant Missions in Paris, ... 68 

XI. Americans in London, 70 

XII. The American Minister at the Court of 

St. James, . . . . . . .88 

XIII. Pensions, 124 

XIV. Americans in Rome, 147 

XV. Florence, 191 

XVI. Americans on the Riviera, . . , .211 
iii 



PREFACE. 

The exceptional opportunities I have had for 
observing" and studying the life and character 
of " Americans in Europe " have forced upon 
me a feeling of fiduciary responsibility. That 
is to say, seeing what I have seen, and know- 
ing what I know, I feel that I have no right to 
be silent, and am consequently impelled, by a 
keen sense of duty, to speak out with no un- 
certain voice and in no ambiguous words. But 
it is useless for me to speak unless I can make 
myself heard, and when facts have a most res- 
onant voice of their, own, it seems to me a pity 
to weaken that voice and the lesson it would 
teach by any dulness or feebleness of utter- 
ance. 

I believe that this book will be of value — not 
only to '^Americans in Europe," but to my com- 
patriots at home and to society in general, and 
I wish very much that it may be as widely read 
as possible, to insure which I have first of all 



PREFACE. 

endeavored to make it as readable as possible. 
Dulness is quite enougb nowadays to damn 
anybody or anything. It is the most hopeless, 
most fatal, verdict that can be passed upon any 
book. The public plainly tells the author that 
it will forgive his ignorance, his inaccuracy, his 
want of high purpose — or any purpose for that 
matter — if he be only readable, that is, if he be 
not dull. In meeting this public demand facts 
are often regarded as being more of a hinder- 
ance than of a help ; and serious thought, if 
there be any such, must needs be served in very 
small quantities or very carefully disguised. 

Whatever is now offered to the intellectual 
palate must be highly spiced and tasty. We 
no longer relish the natural juices and simple 
flavors of plain natural and moral food, and we 
call in the French literary cook with his pun- 
gent sauces to tempt our jaded and indifferent 
appetites. 

We read a little of everything and not much 
of anything, and what we do read must be 
served to us in large type and in small quanti- 
ties. We take our general literature in para- 
graphs and epigrams, our history in the faint- 
est outlines ; and if we were to act upon Shake- 
speare's advice and study only what we most 



vi 



PREFAOE. 

affect, I fear that Shakespeare himself would 
be left unread. 

It is quite useless to cry out against this 
state of things — we must accept the fact and 
write accordingly, if we can. After all, I do 
not see why goodness and dulness should go 
together, and as a simple matter of fact they do 
not go together. If there is one thing that 
this present generation will not stand, it is the 
masquerading of ignorance, of stupidity, and 
hypocrisy, under the guise of dignity, earnest- 
ness, and piety. 

The remarkable thing is that dulness has 
succeeded so long in forcing the world to take 
it at its own enormous intellectual and moral 
estimate. 

At the head and front of almost every profes- 
sion has stood some blatant pedagogue who 
has persuaded mankind to take his dulness 
for depth. This pedant is still heard from the 
pulpit, from the superior law courts, and from 
the learned (*?) reviews. The libraries of the 
world are full of his unreadable volumes. 
There is but one place, so far as I know, where 
he does not and cannot flourish, namely in 
journalism. It is quite impossible for him to 
secure, or at all events to hold, a position on 



vii 



PREFACE. 

a daily paper. He, therefore, denounces the 
daily press from the pulpit, the bar, or the 
columns of some " weekly " or " monthly." 

The truth is, as I know from experience, it 
is much easier to get an article inserted in 
a "weekly" or "monthly" journal than in a 
"daily," for the best writing to-day is to be 
found in the leading columns of the Daily 
Press. I would much rather trust to the fair- 
ness of the daily paper than to that of the 
religious weekly, or to the utterances of the 
" prominent individuals " who are invited to air 
their opinions in the " monthly." 

I cannot follow the Daily Press in all its 
methods of procuring and distributing news, 
nor can I agree that everything which happens 
in this complex world of ours is a proper sub- 
ject for publication and comment; but upon 
the whole I go with it fully in the publicity it 
gives to the equivocal sayings and doings of 
public men, and to the strong search -light 
which it throws upon the crooked paths of peo- 
ple, male or female, who in any way occupy the 
position of leaders. The daily paper is as near 
a truthful picture of the actual world as can 
be made, and I quite believe that this daily 
picture of the world's sayings and doings is 



vm 



PREFACE. 

one of the greatest blessings of our modern 
times. 

I have taken my cue then from the daily 
papers. I have tried not to be dull ; but above 
all I have tried to present a true picture of the 
life and character of " Americans in Europe." 

It has been necessary for me to speak of in- 
dividual persons, but I have not written in a 
spirit of idle or vicious gossip. I have set down 
naught in malice, and if I have sometimes used 
ridicule and some measure of sarcasm, in deal- 
ing with certain persons and things, it is be- 
cause ridicule and sarcasm are the only in- 
struments I can command to accomplish the 
purpose I have in view. That I really have 
some purpose much higher than mere amuse- 
ment in view, I will leave the discriminating 
reader to judge. 

The Authoe. 



INTKODUCTION. 

To the world at large Americans are an inter- 
esting people ; tlie most interesting indeed of 
all the peoples of the earth ; and this it is prob- 
ably safe to say they will continue to be for 
centuries to come. America represents a new 
life and a new world; an entirely new order 
and method of things political, industrial, and 
social. 

The success of the American nation is unpar- 
alleled in the history of nations, and the influ- 
ence of the American life and character is 
to-day the dominant influence of the world. 
This influence is confined to no special domain, 
but is everywhere present, and everywhere po- 
tent, transforming and revolutionizing all the 
social, political, industrial, and commercial in- 
stitutions of the globe. 

Not only this, but in matters purely intellect- 
ual, the mind and thought of the world are fast 
becoming Americanized. 

The American daily paper, with its head-line 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

system, is now the model paper of the journal- 
istic world. Even The Times and Saturday 
Hevieiv — conservative organs, which stood 
out so long and seemed so resolute — have at 
last surrendered, and raised the once offending 
head-lines upon the very forefront of their con- 
servative pages. 

The American illustrated magazine is an- 
other instance in the same direction ; for are not 
the nations of Europe copying this " Yankee 
notion ? " The Public, or Free School, system 
of America is now being almost universally 
adopted by the Old World ; and it will not, it 
cannot, be many years before " Greek " is made 
an *' extra " or " option " in Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, as it now is at Harvard. 

The truth of the matter is, the political, so- 
cial, industrial, and educational games of the 
Old World are effete things, and a new shuffle 
and a new cut of the cards have been made. 
The United States of America have dealt a new 
hand all round the international board, and 
each nation is obliged to accept the trump and 
follow her lead, or drop out of the game alto- 
gether. 

What is true of America as a nation, is also 
true of Americans as individuals. They are the 



INTBODUGTION. 

most interesting' people of this century. They 
may not be so well — that is so artificially — 
bred, nor so highly — that is technically — cul- 
tivated as the people of Europe ; but they are 
more interesting, for novelty is always inter- 
esting", and Americans are original if nothing 
more. 

One never can tell what an American (I mean 
a genuine American) may say or do under any 
given conditions or circumstances. He is frank 
and impulsive, good-natured and fearless ; and 
these qualities cover a multitude of deficien- 
cies, and all manner of social sins. He is not 
the glass of fashion, nor the mould of social 
form, and yet, he — and especially she — is per- 
haps the most welcome of all the guests received 
in the salons and drawing-rooms of Europe. 

The American can go from one round of the 
social ladder to the other, and he is the only 
person who can. He dines one day with a 
"tradesman" and the next with a duke, and 
nothing is thought of it. Everything is ex- 
plained by the fact of his being an American. 
An Englishmen, a German, a Frenchman, or 
any other European, must give credentials of 
birth and position, and can be received only 
by the class to which he properly belongs. 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Not SO the American ; he can go anywhere and 
everywhere, without a question being asked as 
to his family or his social rank. For, the truth 
is, he is supposed to have neither — at least, in 
the European sense. These things, which are 
so necessary to a European, and so all-power- 
ful in determining his position and his career, 
are never thought of in connection with an 
American. The really knowing Americans see 
and understand this peculiar fact, and are si- 
lent or evasive on the subject. 

No wise American ever prides himself upon 
his family, in Europe. Not that he may not 
belong to a family with a history, and a good 
one, too — better perhaps than the best in Eu- 
rope — ^but he knows, if he is not a fool, that 
such claims are worthless in the Old World. 
They are more than that, they are worse than 
worthless, for measured by European stand- 
ards they would be not only of no value what- 
ever, but the person presenting them would 
lose the peculiar and enormous advantages of 
his nationality. 

The abolition, or rather the non-existence, of 
social titles, is not only a very wise, but a very 
shrewd, feature of the American Commonwealth. 
A titled American could have no status in Eu- 



INTBOBUGTION, 

ropean society, would in truth be nobody at all, 
among the nobility of the Old World, while 
a plain American citizen may be the peer of 
anybody. Again, an American citizen has a 
representative character, which cannot attach 
to any European of whatever rank or station. 

A European can represent only his rank or 
his class— never his nation. This is as true of 
the republics of Europe as of the monarchical 
forms of government. The European Democ- 
racies are an "evolution," or a "devolution" 
from some other form of government. The 
American Eepublic is a government de novo. 
There is absolutely nothing behind or beneath 
it, no class names or distinctions in the back- 
ground to cast their lights or their shadows 
upon the social and political life and character 
of the nation. 

There are professional titles in America, but 
no class distinctions, and there never were. 
This cannot be said of any other civilized nation 
now existing. The enormous advantage which 
this fact gave to the New World and her repre- 
sentatives at the very beginning is beyond all 
reckoning. Franklin was received in France, 
and I may say throughout Europe, as the per- 
sonification of the American people en bloc, and 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

was on that account easily the first and the 
most important personage at the French Court. 
Other ministers and ambassadors, titled or 
otherwise, represented some section or phase of 
their national life and character. 

Franklin spoke and acted and thought for 
the whole people of America. No minister- 
plenipotentiary to any nation at any period in 
the world's history has ever held the command- 
ing position which Franklin held in Europe, as 
the E-epresentative of the United States of 
America, a nation just born. He was the most 
honored, and the most powerful, personage in 
Europe; so powerful, in fact, that the King of 
France, who recognized in him — that is in the 
principle he represented — his greatest foe, his 
natural enemy, was compelled to receive him in 
his own house and treat him as his best friend. 

And who was Franklin "? He was simply an 
American citizen; a self-taught man without 
family, rank, or fortune; a printer by trade. 
This was the individiial whose name and fame, 
as the Representative of the American E-epub- 
lic, shone far above those of any other person 
upon the political horizon of his day and gener- 
ation. So deep was the impression this great 
American made upon the French people, that 



INTRODUCTION, 

to this day lie is looked upon by a certain class 
of Frenchmen — and I may add the best class — 
as the typical American character. "Would that 
he were ! But American Ministers to European 
Courts nowadays try to play the games of the 
Old World, and are easily beaten. There are 
some exceptions, but there are not many. 

We laugh at the un-Europeanized American 
who plumes himself upon his sovereign charac- 
ter as an American citizen ; but, laugh as we 
may, it is a veritable fact, and if he is to be 
classed at all — a thing which never suggests 
itself to him at home— his place is properly 
among the royalties, and not among the nobili- 
ties, of the Old World — just where Franklin's 
was, and was acknowledged by all to be. Every 
American-born citizen is Heir- Apparent to the 
Presidency of the United States, a position of 
more absolute governing authority and power 
than that of any king or emperor of Europe. 

I have said that there are absolutely no class- 
distinctions in the United States of America. 
Who ever heard of the American peasant ? The 
word is unknown in America. Again who ever 
heard of the upper class, or the middle class ? 
No one hears such words in America as class- 
distinctions except perhaps among the " Four 



AMERICAIS'S IN EUROPE. 

Hundred" — snobs — of New York. One does 
hear these things sometimes from Americans 
in Europe. And this brings me to my subject. 
I repeat, there is no character so interesting to 
the world just now as the American character. 
But it must be the genuine thing, without 
apology or pretence, or it is nothing worth. 
An American who tries to be somebody else, or 
who is always apologizing for hfs country and 
his countrymen, is the most contemptible creat- 
ure on the face of the earth. 

I once met a young American who had been 
to Eton and to Oxford, and was travelling on 
the Continent with an elderly uncle. I saw at 
once that the young man was very English, the 
old man very American. The young man talked 
like an English " swell " — that is, he talked al- 
most nothing but the most insipid and mean- 
ingless slang and with an affected accent. The 
old man talked like a man of sense, who was 
proud of his nationality, but to the evident an- 
noyance of the young Oxonian ; who finally 
said in an undertone — " Don't give yourself aivay, 
uncle, they take me for an Englishman." 
" Then you're a fool, and have given yourself 
away in no figurative but in a very real sense," 
retorted the disgusted uncle. 



8 



INTEODUGTION, 

Now, this Oxonian represents a very large 
class of Americans in Europe — old and young, 
male and female — ^who give themselves aivay to 
the English and get nothing in return but con- 
tempt or patronage. There are a few Ameri- 
cans in Europe of a somewhat different type, 
who have sense enough to be proud of their 
country, if they do not choose to live in it. 

I know an American who had the great hon- 
or of being presented to Mr. Buskin. Almost 
the first thing this eminent man of letters said 
was, " A Yankee with an English accent : how 
does that happen ? " To this very polite re- 
mark the American replied, *'I had the misfor- 
tune to be educated in England." 

On another occasion a great English lady said 
to this gentleman, " Do you know, I should have 
taken you for an Englishman." " I am very sor- 
ry, madam, that I do not appear to be what I 
really am," was the answer. " Oh ! of course," 
said the grand lady, " you are quite right, but 
I thought our young American cousins did not 
mind a little resemblance to the old folks on 
this side of the water." " They certainly do not 
mind the natural family resemblance, and one of 
the strongest features of the Anglo-Saxon race 
is self-respect," said the American. "Yes, I 



AMERICANS IN EVROPE. 

suppose it is just as well for people to be what 
they are," rejoined the British matron. And 
this lady spoke the mind of the English people. 
There is something very solid and real about 
the Englishman, whoever he is or whatever he 
is. It doesn't much matter what an Englishman 
is, so that he is what he is, without pretence or 
apology. Lord Salisbury is a conservative, a 
churchman, and an aristocrat — ^there is no pos- 
sibility of doubt on these points — and the 
English people respect him. Mr. Bradlaugh 
was just as manifestly a radical and a free- 
thinker, and the English people respected 
him. Tennyson was a poet ennobled, and the 
English admired and venerated him. "William 
Morris is a poet and a communist, and the 
people admire him. "Wellington and Palmers- 
ton, Disraeli and Gladstone, the classical Lord 
Derby and the homely John Bright, are types 
of character which John Bull loves to honor 
and reward; but the Chamberlains and the 
Churchills he will never seriously press to his 
broad and manly bosom with any great feel- 
ing of paternal pride or affection. Moral — in- 
tended especially for Americans visiting Eng- 
land with social ambitions— if you wish to be 
anybody in England, be American. 



10 



11. 

AMEEIOANS IN PAEIS. 

THEIE FONDNESS FOR FOREIGN TITLES. 

One bright May day I was driving in the 
Bois de Boulogne with an English baronet, now 
deceased, who was for many years a conspicu- 
ous figure at the French capital, conspicuous 
more on account of his great wealth and munif- 
icent charity than for his social doings. In fact, 
he went little into society, for the reason that 
he was somewhat of an invalid during the last 
years of his life, and had neither the strength 
nor the patience to endure society bores. But 
for all that his social prestige was very great, 
and he was much sought after by the fashion- 
able world ; all the more so, indeed, because 
he was seldom seen anywhere, when he might 
have gone everywhere. That is the sort of 
personage who fills the breast of the social 
small fry with an envy which might be great, if 
these people were capable of experiencing any 

11 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

great emotion of whatever nature, good or 
bad. 

Everybody knew about the wealthy baronet, 
about his great London Art Gallery — the great- 
est private collection perhaps in the world — 
and most people had heard something about 
his large charities in Paris. And then there 
were some peculiar circumstances concerning 
his birth and parentage which gave a very pun- 
gent flavor to the general interest attaching 
to this Englishman. Very well, then, it was 
with this distinguished gentlemen that I had 
the honor to drive. The day was perfect, it 
was the fashionable hour and all the great 
world was in the Bois. My beautiful com- 
patriots were out in great force, and I was ob- 
served by all, and recognized by many, in a 
most pronounced manner. The baronet was a 
little surprised by the large number of my ac- 
quaintances ; and in truth so was I, for I was 
favored with bows from many ladies with whom 
I was totally unacquainted. 

I was myself pretty well known by sight and 
reputation, and was, I think I may say, known 
to be a perfectly respectable bachelor. But, 
to be frank, I was not a very distinguished 
member of the American colony in Paris. 



12 



AMERICANS IM PARIS. 

More than this, it was by the merest chance 
that I happened to be driving with this great 
person. I had written something on a social 
subject which interested the baronet, and he 
sent me a note asking me to call and talk over 
the matter with him. My visit, by good luck, 
fell just as he was going out for a drive, and I 
was invited to take a seat in his carriage, " and 
our talk will thus be free from interruptions," 
observed my host. 

I had visited Paris often, and for a stretch of 
several months at a time, and yet I knew very 
few of my country -people. But things changed 
very quickly after my now memorable drive 
with the baronet in the Bois. In a few days 
my table was covered with " At Home " cards 
brought by the hands of liveried servants, and 
I was soon in the full swim of the gay world. I 
was invited almost everywhere, for those who 
had not seen me in the carriage of the great 
baronet saw me in leading salons, and the two 
together gave me the entrance everywhere, even 
into the most exclusive circles. 

For a while I thought it best to keep myself 
671 evidence, but having once firmly established 
myself in the social world, I could of course 
afford to be, or pretend to be, independent and 



13 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

only went when I chose and where I chose; 
hence, I soon found it necessary to drop some 
unimportant families from my list, as it com- 
prised enough of the ultra-fashionable set to 
fully occupy my time. 

From Paris and London I was passed on to 
all the English and American colonies on the 
C9ntinent — ^to Rome, Florence, the Riviera, 
etc., and it was in this way that I came to know 
" Americans in Europe " while I have remained 
myself almost entirely unknown. 

The colony in Paris is by far the largest 
American community in Europe. This colony 
was founded under the most favorable auspices. 
France had been the only European friend of 
America during the War of Independence. The 
French really looked upon the United States 
as being, to a great extent, the work of their 
own hands. Lafayette had not only fought 
but had given his money to establish the 
American Republic, and De Tocqueville had 
expounded and glorified the constitution and 
commonwealth of America to the French peo- 
ple in a book which is still almost the best 
thing that has been written on America, not- 
withstanding the elaborate compilation of Pro- 
fessor Bryce. 

14 



AMERICANS IN PARIS. 

But of course the most important influence 
brought to bear upon the French people in 
favor of America and Americans was that of 
Franklin, which has already been noticed. Of 
the minor influences the marriage of the great 
Napoleon's brother, Jerome Bonaparte, with an 
American lady was of no slight importance, es- 
pecially in the social world, and records the 
first of the many victories which the Ameri- 
can woman has gained in Europe. It was a 
splendid advertisement of the American girls' 
beauty — for in this case at least it was beauty 
and beauty alone, unaided by wealth, that made 
the capture, and it was a veritable capture. 
Moreover, Miss Patterson had but one day and 
one night in which to plan and execute her ac- 
tion against the heart of a king. The encounter 
was short and sharp. The Baltimore beauty 
staked everything upon her personal — and I 
may say her physical — charms, for she dis- 
carded all ornaments, and the upper part of 
her person was draped with but a single gar- 
ment and that of a texture so thin as to be 
hardly perceptible. Bonaparte came and saw 
and was conquered. 

This I believe to be one of the most splen- 
did victories that womanly beauty has ever won 



15 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

since tlie days of Queen Esther, or of King* 
Cophetua and the Beggar Maid. And take 
note of this, ye corset-wearing maidens : Miss 
Patterson's victory was due to the fact that she 
engaged the enemy in the open — scorning all 
art, either to conceal or to heighten her charms. 

Since this very notable victory of Miss Pat- 
terson's the beauty of the Baltimore ladies goes 
without saying. But beauty is not enough in 
these degenerate days, and a Baltimore girl 
without a million or so as a background to her 
charms — be they never so great — cannot hope 
to win against her New York or San Francisco 
rival who pays her money and takes her choice 
of all the old and worn-out and worthless titles 
of Europe. 

Is it any wonder that Americans worship the 
almighty dollar (if they do) when they find that 
it is the almighty power in the Old World? 
And which one, I should like to know, is the 
better character : the one who buys or the 
one who is bought? For everything can be 
bought in Europe — even the marbles of the 
Parthenon, which are supposed to be the work 
of a Grecian sculptor by the name of Phidias, 
but which in this commercial age and in shop- 
keeping England very properly bear the name 



16 



AMERICANS IN PARIS. 

of Elgin, tlie person who bought them with 
English gold. 

Everything, I say, can be bought in Europe, 
from the Frieze of the Parthenon down to the 
trumpery and generally disreputable designa- 
tions of Prince or Princess, Count or Countess, 
Baron or Baroness, and even of " My Lord " and 
*'My Lady," for have not the money-lenders of 
London bought their way even into the proud 
English Peerage? And then the people of 
Europe talk of Americans worshipping the Al- 
mighty Dollar ! "Worship it ? Why they care 
so little for it that they throw it away upon the 
trumpery gewgaws of Europe. They show 
bad taste — ^very bad taste, I will allow, and even 
worse commercial judgment — for titles that can- 
be bought and sold are badges of shame and 
not of honor, and the parties to such dealings 
not only belittle themselves but degrade social 
rank and vulgarize wealth. The rank that can 
be bought is the lowest of all ranks, and the 
money that will buy it is the most debased of 
all currency. 

I say once for all that there is not a titled 
American woman in Europe who has not lost 
something in real social dignity by the wholly 
incongruous position she occupies. It has 



17 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

really come to this, that if one speaks now of an 
American Princess, Countess, or Baroness, it is 
absolutely necessary to explain at once what 
her social position was in America — if she had 
one — otherwise, even the respectability of her 
birth and bringing up will be questioned. For 
no American women of the best sort have ever 
desired to wear a European title, which as a 
social ornament is so wholly unbecoming to 
their birth and nationality. 

I am willing to admit, however, that, on the 
first blush, titles sound very tempting to an 
American ear ; more tempting to an American 
ear, perhaps, than to any other ear; and the 
reason is not far to seek. First, there is the 
general interest of novelty. Americans, home- 
bred, know little or nothing of the actual people 
who wear these titles. They have seen them 
only through the magnifying glass of their 
mind's eye ; have met them only in poetry, in 
novels, and now and then in history. 

In fiction, titled people are always made to 
play the leading roles, and then if they are not 
always the wisest and the handsomest, the brav- 
est and the best, they are at least the most dis- 
tinguished, in some way or other. Again, there 
is no use denying the fact that the very sound 



18 



AMERICANS IN PARIS. 

of a title carries an idea of superiority witli it. 
In this matter, as usual, " John Bull " hit upon 
exactly the right thing, and has the advantage 
over all his European rivals. "My Lord" car- 
ries more distinction and more weight with it 
than any other title in Europe. Now these 
mere titles of nobility stand for real nobility 
of character to the unsophisticated American 
mind : hence the glamour and the temptation. 

Of course, one who has been in Europe long 
enough to learn the truth about these things 
knows that the facts are just the reverse of our 
childish ideals. We know that a title of nobil- 
ity is often the badge of an idle, ignorant, vi- 
cious, and cowardly blackguard ; and this knowl- 
edge — thanks to the law courts and the daily 
paper — ^is no longer the property of a few. 
There are some notable, but not very many, ex- 
ceptions. The late Lord Houghton once said 
td Lord Stanhope in the House of Lords, " You 
and I, Stanhope, are the only men in this place 
who can read and write." " Pardon me," said 
Lord Stanhope, " you forget Lord Lytton." 

It has been for some time an unwritten rule 
in the Lower House — ^the House of Commons — 
that if a member becomes insufferably dull the 
way to get rid of him is to kick him down (I 



19 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

suppose I should say up) into the House of 
Lords. Nothing is so sure a mark of impotency 
in a politician as to be created a peer. The 
House of Lords is not, therefore, wholly useless. 
But for the House of Lords what in the world 
could be done with such a politician as the late 
Sir Eichard, and the present Lord, Cross ? Let 
Mr. Labouchere, and those of his kidney, ponder 
this matter well before abolishing the " Upper 
House." So much for the brains of the noble 
peers. If dulness were, however, the only dis- 
tinction of the "nobility " one could suffer it to 
pass, but the cry goes up from the Divorce 
Courts, from Libel Courts, from Baccarat Courts, 
and from all sorts of Criminal Courts ; from 
London and Paris, from Berlin and Yienna, and 
even from India, "How long, oh Lord, how 
long, wilt Thou suffer them to encumber and 
pollute the earth ! " 

There is some excuse for the rich and ignorant 
American woman who wishes to exchange her 
dollars for a title. But to know the facts — as 
almost everybody must know them by this time 
—and then to barter for those base wares is 
simple infamy, and richly deserves, what almost 
invariably follows, disease and misery. But 
titled Americans in Europe are not much worse 



20 



AMERICANS IN PARIS. 

than some other kinds I shall mention, as I pro- 
ceed in my self-appointed, albeit patriotic, duty. 

Talleyrand tells of an American he met, some- 
where in Pennsylvania, who had no desire to 
see General Washington, but was very anxious 
to see Mr. Bingham, " the man, they say, who is 
so rich." And the brilliant French diplomat 
gives this as an example of the vulgarizing in- 
fluence of mere money, at the very beginning of 
the American national life. However true this 
may be — and I am sure it is less true of the be- 
ginnings of the American nation than of the be- 
ginnings of any European State — however true 
this may be, I am sorry to say that the Ameri- 
can colony in Paris is, and has always been, for 
the most part, made up of people who prefer 
the " Binghams " to the " Washingtons." 

The very rich and the very hospitable lady 
who used to reside in her great palace near the 
Arc de Triomphe is to the Parisian the typical » 
American to-day, as Franklin was a hundred 
years ago. Nor need we express astonishment 
at this, for the lady in question is as much 
above the average American in Paris now as 
Franklin was above the average in his time. 
So, whenever you see Americans in Paris 
turning up their noses at the mention of this 

21 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

lady's name, know that they would gladly turn 
down their cards at her house if they could. Of 
course there are a few Americans in Paris who 
do not care for that sort of society, and who 
have no interest in this lady and her doings, 
but they keep their noses in their proper places, 
and never indulge in envious sneers at this 

millionaire. But Mrs. M has transferred 

her court to London, where we shall hope to 
meet her in due course. 



23 



III. 

THE AMEKICAN DENTIST. 

The first American in Paris one would natu- 
rally suppose to be the Minister Plenipotentiary. 
But this is not so. The first American in Paris 
is a dentist. I know very well that this state- 
ment will be received in the American quarter 
—and especially in the American Church, Ave- 
nue de I'Alma — with scorn and derision. I shall 
not pause, however, just now to argue the ques- 
tion, but if you will take the trouble to stop the 
first Frenchman you meet in the "Champs 
Ely sees " and ask him who is the most distin- 
guished American in Paris, or in Europe, he, I 
am quite sure, will give you the name of this 
dentist. And he deserves his great eminence, 
for he, like the very rich lady, is a true type, if 
not the best type, of a genuine American. First 
of all he is a self-made and a well-made man, if 
the making of a great fortune counts for any- 
thing ; and do we not all know that it counts for 
everything? 

03 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

This gentleman was born in a little village in 
the State of Pennsylvania. His father, I be- 
lieve, was a poor farmer and the boy had no 
schooling to speak of. I do not know the par- 
ticulars of his early life, nor how he got a start 
in his profession. By some means, however, he 
made his way to Philadelphia and managed to 
get employment there with a dentist. Soon af- 
ter his arrival in the City of Brotherly Love he 
sent to some sort of exhibition a set of hand- 
some artificial teeth. These false teeth caught 
the artistic eye of a distinguished American 
dentist who lived in Paris. This gentleman 
made inquiries, found the young dental artist, 
and carried him off to Paris as his assistant. 
Now this American dentist had no less a per- 
sonage than the Emperor of All the French 
among his clients. 

The dentist had, I am sorry to say, his 
failings — as who of us has not? Y/ell, it so 
happened that on one occasion when he was 
unfortunately under the influence of one of 
these failings, the Emperor chanced to be af- 
flicted with a toothache or something, and de- 
manded — or, as is the way with such person- 
ages, commanded — the services of his dentist. 
To obey, in person, this Imperial command, 

34 



THE AMERICAN DENTIST. 

was, at tlie moment, beyond the power of the 
poor dentist; and he was obliged to send a 
note by the hand of his assistant, pleading ill- 
ness as an excuse. But the Emperor, like or- 
dinary mortals, was not disposed to suffer even 
a toothache, if it could be avoided, and in his 
extremity asked the young assistant if he 
could give him any relief. Now, it may seem 
strange that this young American, fresh from 
his native Democratic soil, was not completely 
overawed by the presence of a live emperor. 
Such, however, was the case, and, moreover, 
he had nerve enough to do his work — whatever 
it was — in such a manner as to win, at once and 
forever, the confidence and the friendship of 
Napoleon III. 

This one patient made the boy's fortune, 
and since then this dentist's career is as well 
known in Europe as Bismarck's or Gladstone's. 
And the secret of it all is that he has never 
tried to be anything but a dentist — that is 
to say, he has never been above his profession 
— ^lias gloried in it, and has got more glory out 
of it than he could have got out of all the titles 
in Europe. He was the trusted friend and con- 
fidant of the Imperial family, and the Empress 
—as everybody knows — went to this American 



35 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

dentist in the hour of her great misfortune and 
peril, and he shielded her from the mob and 
conducted her in safety beyond the French bor- 
der. Nor is it the least to his credit to say 
that he performed this great service with a skill 
and a daring worthy of a Knight of the Bound 
Table, or, as we should prefer to put it, worthy 
of a true-born American citizen. Again, when 
her son, the unfortunate Prince Imperial, lost 
his life in the Zulu war, the heart-broken 
mother called upon the American dentist to 
identify the body. 

This American citizen, the son of a poor 
farmer, has known, and known intimately, more 
kings and queens, emperors and empresses — 
not to mention anyone of lower rank and sta- 
tion — than any man in Europe, and it has not 
weakened in any way his American character. 
When the late Emperor Frederick was so ill at 
San Remo, the American dentist rendered him 
a most delicate and valuable service, which did 
more to relieve the Imperial sufferer than the 
physic of both the Scotch and the German doc- 
tors. And, after the Emperor's death, the 
American dentist had the good taste and the 
decency not to write a book about what he did, 
nor to advertise himself over the Emperor's 



26 



THE AMEniGAIT DENTIST. 

grave, as the Scotch and German physicians 
saw fit to do. The American was too well 
known to require such an advertisement. He 
is now one of the richest and most famous 
men in Paris; but he is still a dentist and 
works at his profession, and has never forgot- 
ten that he is an American citizen. Were he 
an Englishman, he would long before this have 
been created a baronet, and, were he a French- 
man, he could have had, at least during the 
Emperor's lifetime, almost any title he may 
have fancied. He has, however, accepted only 
the badges of scientific distinction properly 
belonging to his profession. 

This very distinguished American had a 
brother and a nephew in Paris who were both 
dentists. The brother married a rich and beau- 
tiful lady — the daughter of a famous New York 
hotel-keeper — and, retiring from his profession 
soon after his marriage, gave the most of his 
time to the American church, cultivated " nice 
people," and was, of course, quite a superior 
person to his brother, the dentist, as his rector 
would doubtless testify. But this well-dis- 
posed, harmless man, has now joined the ma- 
jority, and I have no further comment to make 
upon him. The nephew, however, got to be a 

37 



AMEUICANS IN EUROPE, 

marquis, in some way or other, and was im- 
mediately, and very properly, kicked out of the 
family — which he had disgraced — by his fa- 
mous uncle. 

Who will say that Americans are not inter- 
esting people, when three varieties such as 
these can be found in one family % 



IV. 
AMEEICAN EDITOKS IN PAKIS. 

TWO REPBESENTATIVE JOURNALISTS. 

Next to the American dentist comes the 
American editor, and hero again you will find a 
true type. Like all real Americans, editors 
stand first in whatever circle they choose to 
mix with. Usually, an editor has more brains 
and more real manhood in his composition 
than any dozen titled Europeans to be found 
within a year's search. One of those I have 
in my mind's eye is the proprietor and abso- 
lute manager of one of the greatest daily pa- 
pers in the world. If you have any doubt of 
his being the real manager of the New York 
Herald, consult some one employed on the 
journal in question and your doubts will be 
removed. Besides his editorial work, this 
man is a great yachtsman, a great whip, a 
master of the hounds, and was at one time a 
great polo player. 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Englishmen pride themselves on being 
sportsmen, but this editor can beat any of them 
at a half dozen things and superintend his 
paper at the same time. Regarded simply as 
a sportsman, he is one of the most successful 
men living. He was the first " gentleman " to 
sail a pleasure yacht across the ocean. With- 
out any training, he defeated a champion pro- 
fessional walker. He was the champion polo 
player in America as long as he chose to play. 
As a whip he has few equals, and as the Master 
of the Pau Hounds, he has won the good opin- 
ion of the best horsemen. 

There are not a half dozen Americans in 
Europe who have the ability or the manhood of 
this editor, whom I have mentioned, not because 
I wanted to praise him, but because he is first 
and last and always an American, without pre- 
tence or apology. 

I have now named the two most typical 
and most important Americans in Paris — the 
dentist and the editor — and perhaps it is just 
as well to add that I have not the honor of 
knowing either of these gentlemen personally. 

There is another American journalist who 
has recently taken up his residence in Paris 

30 



AMERICAN' EDITORS IN PARIS. 

whose career might have furnished one of the 
best tales of the Arabian Nights' Entertain- 
ments. This man is not more than forty-five 
years old, and has already retired with his 
*'pile," and the biggest "pile" I venture to say 
that has ever been made in journalism, or in 
anything else, in so short a time. His wife, a 
niece of the late ex-President of the ex-South- 
ern Confederacy, delights to tell the story of 
her husband's marvellous success, of which I 
can only give the merest sketch. He is a Hun- 
garian by birth, and on his arrival in America, 
at the age of about twenty -two, he did not pos- 
sess money enough to pay for a night's lodging, 
but slept his first night's sleep in the Great Ke- 
public on the soft side of a stone bench in Union 
Square, New York. Now twenty -two from forty- 
five leaves twenty-three — the number of years 
covering the career of this millionaire journal- 
ist. But more remarkable still, this man's vast 
fortune has been made really within the last 
ten years. 

About ten years ago this journalist bought 
the New York World, a daily paper which had, 
under the masterly editorship of the Kev. W, 
H. Hurlbert, decreased in circulation until it no 
longer paid anything but the editor's salary. In 



31 



AMERICANS JiY EUROPE. 

less than five years after the change of manage- 
ment the New York World had the largest circu- 
lation — so it was said — of any paper in America. 
"Within the past two years it has been turned 
into a joint stock company, and capitalized, if 
that is the term, at ten million dollars. In 
other words, these figures tell the marvellous 
story of a journalist making ten million dollars 
in ten years. 

No wonder the wife is proud to relate, es- 
pecially in the company — so I hear— of Amer- 
ican baronesses, countesses, and princesses, the 
fairy tale of her husband's unparalleled career. 
The wife and the husband are worthy of each 
other. There are of course hundreds of my 
country people in Paris more or less interest- 
ing, in one way or another, but no one person, 
it seems to the present writer, stands out from 
the others in such a way as to warrant any ex- 
tended personal notice. 



82 



A HEEOIC MINISTEE PLENIPOTEN- 
TIAEY. 

THE LATE GOYERNOR WASHBURNE. 

I DID not meaB to speak with any want of re- 
spect concerning the American Minister Pleni- 
potentiary as an institution, but I am writing 
about interesting people, and he — well he may 
be very worthy and all that, and usually is, I 
believe, but he can't be said to be interesting. 
His efforts to appear like his colleagues in the 
diplomatic circle are sometimes amusing, I 
grant ; but they are generally too pitiful to be 
interesting. Poor man, he does not know what 
to do, or say. If he would only do and say 
what good Americans are expected to do and 
say, all would be well with him. But no, he 
must needs try to be a European — and he ends 
by being nothing. He is generally some third- 
rate politician who is not strong enough to be 
of any real service to his party at home, and is 

33 



AMERIGAK8 IN EUROPE. 

yet too strong — for mischief — to be passed over 
in the division of the spoils. So he is got rid 
of by sending him to Europe. This, I think, 
applies with some modifying circumstances 
and considerations to almost all Americaji Min- 
isters at European Courts. Now and then, 
however, a real live American is given this post, 
as in the case of the late Governor Washburne, 
Minister to France. 

Our late Minister at Paris, I hasten to say, 
was also a genuine American of decided abil- 
ity, with sense enough to see that he could not 
shine as a diplomat — as no American can. Mr. 
Eeid is a good type, one of the best types iia- 
deed, of a self-made American. As I have said, 
he was Yankee enough to see that he couldn't 
play the European game of diplomacy, and 
he didn't try. But the late Governor Wash- 
burne deserves some further notice. For the 
first twenty or perhaps fifty years of the Ameri- 
can Eepublic her Representative in France 
was a person of importance. But this is not so 
now, and why ? The United States of America 
have grown enormously during the last half 
century, and it seems natural that the influence 
of the nation's representatives should increase 
in a corresponding ratio. But it has not, and 

34 



A HEROIC MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY. 

why not? For the simple reason that our 
representatives are not what they were fifty 
years ago. They used to represent American 
thought and life and progress; they now, 
for the most part, try to imitate European life 
and character. The American Minister loses 
his head on entering Paris, and never finds 
it again till some one else equally silly sup- 
plants him. 

The first thing, and the best thing, for a man 
to do when he finds himself in a strange place 
among unfamiliar customs and things and 
surrounded hj unknown people is to make 
sure of himself. If he will but stick to himself 
everything and everybody will come round to 
him and explain themselves to him. First, let 
the American Minister understand, if he has 
any sense at all, that he cannot hope to shine 
as a diplomat, a man of fashion, or in any 
sense as a man of the world, according to Eu- 
ropean acceptation. These are Old- World char- 
acters, which he cannot possibly assume with 
the smallest success. They are arts that can 
be studied only in Europe. They are strictly 
European, Old-World games, at which the 
American should never suffer himself to hazard 
the slightest word or act, for the cards are all 



35 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

marked and the dice are loaded against him. 
If, however, he will calmly and resolutely hold 
on to himself, and to his character as the Eep- 
resentative of the New World, he will in time 
force these card sharpers to play his game — 
that is the American game — at which he will 
always win. 

One European diplomat is usually a match 
for another, and in the end there is very little 
lost, and nothing gained, on either side, for di- 
plomacy is one of the " played-out " games. Let 
America keep out of it! Nations nowadays 
do not trust any real interest to a diplomatic 
sleight-of-hand performer. There is little scope 
at the present time for such a career — such an 
unworthy career — as that of a Talleyrand. The 
Metternichs and the Castlereaghs are also left 
without an occupation. 

Diplomacy represents the old regime of false- 
hood, intrigue, and corruption. Let America, 
I repeat, keep out of it ! The diplomat has 
still some little power for mischief, but not 
much. His occupation has gone or is fast 
going. The United States have no compli- 
cated diplomatic relations with the Old World, 
simply from the fact that the United States 
have no diplomats. As lawyers make lawsuits, 



36 



A HEROIG MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY, 

SO diplomats make diplomatic muddles. Let 
America keep out of such entanglements ! 

There have been complaints recently, from 
Eome, and Paris, and London, that the delicate 
questions of diplomacy can no longer be kept 
a secret, but are known and discussed by all 
men. This is as it should and always must 
be. No man in the future will be able to play 
the game of diplomacy in secret. Every diplo- 
matic card that is played, and every move that 
is made, is closely watched by the whole 
world ; or, more properly speaking, the so- 
called diplomat can only plaj^ the cards or 
make the moves that he is ordered to make by 
the Sovereign People of the nation whose ser- 
vant he henceforth is, in the proper and real 
sense. 

But I set out to speak of the late Governor 
Washburne, American Minister to France dur- 
ing the Franco-German War. If you were to 
mention this gentleman's name in the Ameri- 
can Colony in Paris you would probably hear 
such exclamations as these, " Such a mistake," 
"An impossible man," "It is a great pity that 
our Government should send such men to Eu- 
rope," " Why, he could not speak one word of 
French," " Knew nothing about society," etc. 



37 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

These are some of the expressions which I have 
heard about this particular minister. True he 
did not speak French and did not try to shine 
as a man of fashion, in any sense. But when 
the war broke out, when the gayest and the 
most beautiful of all the capitals of the world 
was harassed on the outside and rent inter- 
nally ; when hunger and starvation within and 
a hostile army without laid the gay and proud 
city in the dust ; when the French-speaking 
compatriots and the elegant diplomatic col- 
leagues of this " impossible man " had hurried 
off to places of safety and comfort ; then it was 
that the American character in the minister as- 
serted itself j then it was that all things came 
round to this man; and he who had sense 
enough and strength enough to hold on to 
himself, that is, to his national character, in the 
face of European diplomacy and Parisian so- 
ciety, now had the courage to cling to his post, 
when all of his colleagues, without a single ex- 
ception, had deserted theirs. 

Could anything better illustrate the difference 
between the Old and the New World character '? 
This man was a true representative of America. 
He represented her kindliness, her sympathy 
for humanity, and her courage. 

38 



A HEROIO MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY. 

Mr. Washburne remained in the doomed 
city and won a great and a good name by his 
kindliness and his humanity in giving protec- 
tion to the unfortunates of all nationalities shut 
up in the besieged city. Can we compare, for 
one moment, the typical European diplomat 
with such a man ? 

There are very few principalities or duke- 
doms founded upon conduct so glorious, or that 
owe their origin to a character so truly heroic. 
After the war-cloud had rolled by it was very 
natural that the new-born French Eepublic 
should wish to give some token of its apprecia- 
tion to this great representative of a sister 
Eepublic. The French Government expressed 
such a wish, but their generous action was op- 
posed, and by whom ? By one of the literary, 
Europeanized American " diplomats," who had 
misrepresented the United States at two or 
three European Courts. Both of these men, 
the literary diplomat and the true American 
representative, have now crossed the river, 
and I venture to think that the true and kind- 
hearted "Western Man" will be remembered 
long after the historian and his unreadable, 
though I daresay very learned, volumes are 
forgotten — save perhaps by the antiquarian. 

39 



AMERIOANS IN EUROPE. 

Americans in Paris would make a knowledge 
of the French language indispensable to the 
post of minister. That it would be most con- 
venient for the minister to know French, no 
one is such a fool as to deny ; but there are per- 
haps not a dozen men of real ability in the 
United States, outside literary and educational 
circles, who can speak French ; and to make a 
knowledge of French an essential qualification 
for the ministership would be to surrender 
the post entirely into the hands of the snoboc- 
racy of America. If we must have ministers at 
the Courts of Europe — the necessity of which I 
do not see — let them be Americans of the genu- 
ine type, and not the half-and-half European 
breed. 



40 



YI. 

THE AMEEICAN CHUKCH IN PAKIS. 

CLERICAL ANGLOMANIA.. 

The beautiful American church in the Ave- 
nue de I'Alma is the centre around which the 
American Colony revolves. There is another 
American church (Presbyterian) in the rue de 
Berri, but all the fashionable Americans, 
whether they be Episcopalian or non-Episco- 
palian, have seats in the Avenue de I'Alma 
church, as it is quite the thing to do. This is 
by far the most expensive church edifice, and 
altogether the best equipped church, of all the 
English and American churches on the Conti- 
nent of Europe. The vestries are magnificent, 
the finest I have ever seen anywhere. There 
are also splendid rooms for the various church 
guilds, which do a large amount of good work 
for the poor of Paris, especially the poor chil- 
dren. 

There is a surpliced professional choir, of 

41 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

about thirty men and boys, and a choral service 
is performed every day in the year. These 
men and boys, as well as the organist, are all 
imported from London, the precentor and the 
choir-master being the only Americans. 

The rector is an American by birth, which of 
course was no fault of his, and he does every- 
thing in his power to make amends for the pa- 
ternal sin. Should you, therefore, see anything 
in his church or its services to remind you of 
America I am sure the rector is not to blame. 
For example, the officiating clergyman in the 
American Episcopal Church is given the op- 
tion, I believe, at the evening service of using 
one of the Ten Selections of Psalms, in place of 
the regular psalm or psalms for the day. I 
never knew an American church in which this 
was not done some time or other ; but I have 
never known it to be done in the Paris church. 
And why ? It is not so ordered in the English 
Book of Common Prayer, and the English peo- 
ple are very conservative, you know, and don't 
like changes. 

But let me tell this very considerate rector 
that the English people do like changes outside 
of their own country and their own National 
Church, and if he is setting his net for them the 



43 



THE AMERIGAIJ- CHUBGE IN PABI8. 

best thing is to give them the American service, 
pure and simple. It is a shorter service and a 
prettier service, and the slight changes are all 
for the better, and the English clergy see it and 
know it and like it. The rector has worked hard 
to get his fine church, and he can point with 
just pride to the splendid edifice he has built as 
the work of his own hands, for the glory of his 
— God, let us hope. 

While I am on this subject, the case of an 
American church in Paris occurs to me, which 
has given occasion for much clerical heart- 
burning, and I am induced to refer to it, as it 
illustrates, in a concrete manner, the evils of 
this clerical Anglomania, of which I have been 
speaking. The assistant in the church is an 
Englishman, but whether he has taken English 
or American orders is a question. His name 
does not appear in the English Clergy List, and 
yet, as he has never lived in America, I cannot 
understand how he can be in American orders. 
The following interesting account of this assist- 
ant was given me by a clergyman, who vouches 
for its truth. It appears that this Englishman 
came to Paris as a tutor, and having a voice 
he sought an engagement as choir-singer, which 
he obtained in the American church. He was, 



43 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE. 

however, soon promoted to the position of 
reader, an office he discharged with great satis- 
faction to the rector, and the congregation as 
well. But how he has been transformed into a 
"priest," as he calls himself, is the curious 
thing. He was not ordained in Paris ; he was 
not ordained in England. As he has never had 
a residence in America, how could he receive 
his ordination there? These are questions 
which are troubling the mind of my clerical in- 
formant. Perhaps the rector and his vestry- 
will arise and explain. Not that the general 
public are much interested, but the American 
clergy are. I have not the slightest doubt that 
the ordination took place ; but how, and where, 
and when, are the questions I am instructed to 
ask on behalf of the canons and constitution of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States of America. 

Let the rector have an English assistant, by 
all means, and one to his own liking, but not one 
of his own making ! So say the American clergy, 
or, at least, so says one of them. 

Before this English assistant came to stay, a 
number of American, English, and even Scotch 
parsons came and went, and sometimes in rath- 
er quick succession. One or two of these gen- 



44 



THE AMERICAN CHUROH IN PARIS. 

tlemen were good preachers, which the rector 
unfortunately is not, and one may thus account 
for their short stay. But the worst of the thing- 
is that they have all, or nearly all, had some 
trouble or other with the rector, and not one 
word of praise will they bestow upon this man 
of God. 

For some years the church I am referring to 
was a friend and supporter of Pere Hyacinthe 
and the "Galilean," or Old Catholic, church. 
But this is all changed now, and the good pere 
and his work get no help, but a great deal of 
hinderance, from his quondam ally. 

There are a few people in the church I am 
speaking of who are still friendly to the Old 
Catholic movement, and the rector, so the gos- 
sips say, makes these innocent souls believe 
that he would like to help the cause, but that 
his vestry oppose it, and that he is compelled 
in the interests of peace and harmony to with- 
draw his official and public support. Now, the 
vestry, or at least some members of that body, 
tell an equally pretty though a somewhat differ- 
ent story. 

There is also a gray -bearded Scotch clergy- 
man — a chieftain, I believe — ^who was once the 
assistant-minister of the church and who has 



45 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

the prettiest of all stories to tell. It is, in brief, 
something like the following. This Scotch 
clergyman was for several years the chaplain 
of the English church in the Eue Marboeuf. 
The lot upon which his church once stood was 
required by the municipal authorities and the 
building was taken down. The reverend rec- 
tor and his flock were thus without a place of 
worship. It was resolved at once to erect an- 
other church building, and, in the meantime, 
the chaplain was persuaded to unite with the 
American church in a joint service. This union 
was maintained for two or three years, when the 
Scotch clergyman was induced — so he says — by 
the rector and vestry of the American church 
to go to America on a mission in behalf of Pere 
Hyacinthe and the Old Catholic church, the 
rector and vestry promising — so the story goes 
— to provide one thousand dollars toward the 
expenses of his journey. He went to America, 
where he remained for two years, doing what he 
could to collect money for the object of his mis- 
sion. He received no compensation for his ser- 
vices, and all his expenses were paid out of his 
own pocket. He did not get — so he affirms — 
the money pledged him by the rector and ves- 
try of the American church in Paris. He wrote 

46 



THE AMERIGAN GHURGH IN PARIS. 

frequently reminding them of their promise, and 
on his return to Paris made a formal demand 
for one thousand dollars from the rector and 
vestry, and they as formally denied his claim. 
Now, the Scotch chieftain has the fighting blood 
of the Highlander in his veins, and I shall not 
wonder if we hear something more about this 
matter. In the meantime, the attitude of the 
American church, its rector and vestry, toward 
the Old Catholic church needs some explana- 
tion. 

The American church in the rue de Berri is 
very American, too American in fact, in some 
respects, as it has introduced in gay and giddy 
Paris methods and customs suited only to the 
innocent village life of the United States. The 
American Sunday-school system does not appear 
to me to be perfectly adapted to Parisian life and 
character. Its chief value in America is the 
opportunity it offers for innocent love-making, 
from which little or no harm ever results. In 
many villages and towns in the United States 
the Sunday-school is almost the only place 
where the boys and girls, the young men and 
young women, have a chance to meet and amuse 
one another, and young people are never thrown 
together in that promiscuous way without more 



47 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

or less love-making going on. Many an Ameri- 
can husband and wife met for the first time in 
the Sunday-school room as teacher and pupil. 
Of course there are many Sunday-school flirta- 
tions which do not result in matrimony. I 
myself remember one in particular — but the 
number of those which do is quite sufficient to 
justify the existence of this distinctly Ameri- 
can institution. But it cannot be transplanted 
into the impure atmosphere of the Old World, 
and especially into the peculiar atmosphere of 
Paris, without great risk. 

It is all very well for the Sunday-school teach- 
er, somewhere in Western New York or Ohio, 
to make love to the prettiest girl in his class. 
He is probably a young doctor, or a lawyer, or 
a dry-goods clerk, whose habits are well known 
to everybody. He means no harm and could 
do no harm if he did mean it. But it is a very 
different thing for painters and sculptors in 
Paris to make love to their pretty pupils, as has 
sometimes been done, so I hear. They are all 
Americans, to be sure, but the American artist 
or art student in Paris is a very different person 
from the American village doctor, or lawyer, or 
schoolmaster, or clerk, or farmer. 

I think, therefore, that upon the whole it is 



48 



THE AMERICAN CHURCH IN PARIS. 

just as well for American sculptors and paint- 
, ers to stick to their professions, and not to as- 
sume the role of Sunday-school or any other 
kind of biblical or religious teacher in Paris ; 
especially so if their studios should not hap- 
pen to have the reputation of being the whole- 
somest and purest places on earth. 

And now that I am upon this subject I would 
take the liberty of advising American mothers 
with pretty daughters in their teens — or out of 
them, for the matter of that — to attend to their 
Bible instruction at home, and never by any 
chance to send them to the American Sunday- 
school in Paris. These suggestions are found- 
ed upon some knowledge of human nature, as 
well as upon special observation, and they are 
offered to parents and pastors gratuitously, and 
from the most disinterested motives. 



49 



vn. 

AMEEICAN AETISTS IN PAEIS. 

A SENSUAL ATMOSPHERE; GOOD PAINTING; POOR 
SCULPTURE. 

Someone has said that if a young' man 
spends his days in gloating- over nude models, 
and his nights in carousing with them, he is 
called an art student in Paris. It may not be 
quite so bad as that, but I am not in a position 
to make a flat denial of this statement. Paris is 
undoubtedly a good place to study the science 
of the Fine Arts — that is, the technique — but it 
is not a good place to practise it, unless a man 
be happily married. Let Americans get what 
they can out of the art treasures and training 
of the Old World, but when they have got 
these things let them go home and use the 
knowledge and the training to some real artis- 
tic purpose. If they can't do this, they are not, 
and never could be, artists. 

The real artist must have a mind and thought 

50 



AMERICAN ARTISTS IN PARIS, 

of his own, and liis native soil is always tlie 
best place for him to do his work. But, and if 
the so-called artist has no mind or thought of 
his own he had better stop in the Old World, 
for it is much the best place for copyists and 
imitators of all kinds. Of course there are 
some extenuating" circumstances which one 
should consider in passing judgment upon 
American artists in Europe. First of all, it is 
much cheaper living in Europe, which is no 
trifling matter to many artists just beginning 
their profession. But if there is ever to be an 
American master, in the fullest and widest sense, 
he will have to do his work on American soil, 
and under the influences of the New-World 
thought and feeling and aspiration, and not in 
the wholly sensual atmosphere of Paris, or in 
the graveyards of Eome. 

There are some very able American painters 
in Paris. This was clearly shown by the Ameri- 
can Art display at the Universal Exhibition. 
The average quality of the American work was 
surprisingly high, next in value, so it was 
thought by many, to the French. And there 
were two or three American painters who actu- 
ally excelled all others in some features of their 
art. 



51 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

The American exhibit was very weak in sculp- 
ture — ^in fact, the whole world is growing weak 
in sculpture, and must continue to grow weak in 
sculpture, until sculptors return to the old and 
honest way of being what their name implies — 
or should imply — a carver in stone, etc. They 
are at present simply modellers in clay. Few 
of them ever use a chisel, nor can they use a 
chisel. 

There is but one American sculptor in Europe, 
so far as I know, who actually " sculpts " his own 
work. I have heard that there is an American 
in Paris who gives out that he always finishes 
his own marbles. I have made careful examina- 
tion of this story, and am sorry to say that I am 
not prepared to vouch for its truthfulness. 
That he has unfinished work in his studio is 
true; true it is, also, that he has the tools of the 
" sculptor's art '* on exhibition ; but as to his 
using these tools with his own hands on works 
of art in any serious way I will not affirm. 

There are perhaps a dozen well-known 
American painters in Paris — ^too well known, in 
fact, to add to the novelty or interest of these 

pages. Mr. B was for several years the 

acknowledged head and front of American art 
in Paris. But he has at last fallen from his 



52 



AMERICAN ARTISTS IN PARIS. 

high estate ; or, to speak more correctly, others 
have surpassed him, and at present the leader- 
ship cannot be awarded to anybody without a 
very close examination of comparative merits, 
which I am not prepared to make. If Mr. Sar- 
gent were still in Paris, the position would prob- 
ably be conceded to him by his fellow paint- 
ers. 



53 



YIII. 
THE AMEEICAN GIEL IN PAKIS. 



I AM fully aware ttiat the American Girl (God 
bless her!) has furnished "copy" for many a 
needy penman and penwoman, so that I can- 
not hope to add novelty to her many other 
charms. Still, I shall venture upon an observa- 
tion or two, for it would be an unpardonable 
offence to write about "Americans in Europe" 
with the American Girl left out. 

I was about to say something concerning* the 
play of Hamlet, with Hamlet left out, but it is 
just as well to give old and faithful servants a 
rest now and then. Besides, I think European 
penmen should be allowed a full copyright on 
all these old and trite sayings, for without them 
they would be almost destitiite. 

I well remember the first large morning {i.e., 
afternoon) reception I attended after my drive 
with the Baronet. It was in the Avenue Mon- 



54 



THE AMBBIGAJSr GIEL IN PARIS. 

taigne. On entering the salon I was greeted 
by my beautiful compatriots with a volley of 
smiles, from black eyes and blue eyes, brown 
eyes and gray eyes, for American women have 
great variety of orbs. I say a volley of smiles, 
and I think I use the word "volley" advisedly, 
for my countrywomen fire their smiles point 
blank at their victims. This is peculiar to them. 
The French and Italian beauties shoot from 
the corners of their eyes, and seemingly at no 
definite mark. Not so the practical American. 
Having once chosen her game, she takes good 
aim and fires straight at him, and he knows it — 
cannot help knowing it — and she seldom misses 
the bull's-eye. Her English (elder) cousin does 
not proceed either with the directness of her 
American cousin, or the indirectness of her 
Continental rivals. Her smile is ambiguous, 
and generally misleading. It is sometimes hard 
to tell whether it is subjective or objective; i.e., 
whether it is intended for you or for some ideal 
person within her maiden bosom. To say the 
least, it is not so frank as the American, nor so 
bantering as the Continental smile, and it is apt 
to be rather lofty or patronizing. But then it 
is always a well-bred smile — the best bred smile 
in the world. But this apart. 



55 



AMEBIGAN8 IN EUROPE, 

After receiving' volley after volley with mod- 
est bravery, and returning the attack with some 
little show of sport and some slight execu- 
tion, let me hope, I settled down in a still 
corner with a quiet English girl, where a hand- 
to-hand, as well as an eye-to-eye, encounter was 
waged for the rest of the day. For, let me say, 
in justice to our fair British cousin, that when 
you once get past the outer battlements of her 
cold reserve you will find the Albion beauty the 
most sympathetic of all maidens. But you 
must be quiet about it, very quiet, you know, if 
you wish to tame the British girl. The Ameri- 
can girl is very disappointing in this particular, 
for she is the hardest of all to tame — it is, in 
fact, quite impossible to subdue her wild spirit. 
She tempts one in all sorts of ways in the pres- 
ence of others, and seems the easiest possible 
game, but, sad to say, when alone she is the 
most unsympathetic of female mortals. But I 
must say something about this, my first, recep- 
tion, which may be taken as a typical "At 
Home." 

The first thing on the programme was a pi- 
ano solo by a professional, then a recitation in 
French by an American girl. Next a farce, acted 
by two members of the Comedie Frangaise. 



56 



THE AMERIGAN GIRL IN PARIS, 

Then a well-known American lady — amateur — 
sang. Some pupils of the principal singing* 
teachers in Paris came next, and one of the 
great masters of the violin journeyed all the 
way from London for the special purpose of 
playing at this "At Home." A great ex-star of 
the operatic stage closed the programme, which 
was excellent, much better, indeed, than nine- 
tenths of the public concerts. 

And now a word as to the personnel of this 
reception. There were American Baronesses, 
Countesses, and even a Princess. I saw here, 
for the first time, the American Baroness whose 
wretched daughter is now undergoing a life- 
sentence for the murder of her husband. I met 
this lady in many other salons in Paris, but 
since her great sorrow and shame I have found 
but one lady who ever knew her. Curious, is it 
not? 

Conspicuous at this reception were the mag- 
nificently beautiful daughters of a late Amer- 
ican banker in Paris. Why these remarkably 
fine girls do not marry is one of the mysteries 
of Paris. One thing is certain, they do not 
want titled husbands, for, if they did, they have 
the money to pay for them, and that down " on 
the nail," if necessary. Altogether, I should say 



57 



AMEBIGANS IJSf EUROPE. 

they were of a mucli superior type to tlie title- 
L.unting' American women. But these ladies 
are young and rich and beautiful, and can well 
afford to wait until the proper men — and let 
us hope they may be Americans ! — shall turn 
up.* 

There were other pretty unmarried American 
girls present, among them a blue-eyed damsel, 
who is to be seen almost every day driving a 
pretty pair of ponies in the Bois. I cannot 
understand how this young lady has — thus far 
— shielded her heart from the darts of the 
Baby-boy. She, also, I hope, is not a title- 
hunter. 

There was another young lady at the recep- 
tion worthy of notice. She was the daughter of 
a distinguished American painter in Paris, 
and the sister of another. This lady has since 
married. Her father is a rich man and had a 
large " dot " for his only daughter, but upon 
the one condition that it was not to be given 
in exchange for a titled husband. In fact, un- 
der no conditions would this stern parent ac- 
cept a titled son-in-law. His daughter married 

* Since the above was written, one of these happy men 
has turned up, and is — as I thought he would have to be — 
an American author. 



53 



THE AMEBIGAN GIRL IN PARIS. 

a Protestant banker — a gentleman without a 
title. May they live long- and prosper ! 

There was also present at this " At Home " 
the daughter of a very distinguished American 
poet and her cousins. The French art-world 
was represented by Carolus Duran, and the 
American art circle by Mr. Stewart, Mr. Alex- 
ander Harrison, and Mr. Dyer. The late English 
chaplain of the D'Aguesseau Church, with his 
wife and daughters, and some of his parish- 
ioners, represented the English colony. There 
was a slight sprinkling of French society 
people, but very slight, for Americans have 
hardly succeeded in getting into the real Pa- 
risian social world. 

A few Americans have married into the 
Faubourg St. Germain circle, but they have 
not the power, if they had the wish, to lift 
any of their compatriots up to their exalted 
sphere. But, the truth is, they have no such 
wish. As soon as one American woman as- 
cends a step above her associates, she looks 
down upon them with lofty pride and superior- 
ity, and would be the last person in the world 
to give any of them " a hand up." 

The practical, business-like way in which the 
American woman in '* high life " destroys her 



59 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

old friends, and magnifies and fortifies her 
own position, is a very pretty thing to see — or 
rather it isn't. The national smartness and 
keenness of the American mind, which have 
made it such a power in the business, political, 
and intellectual world, do not appear to the 
best advantage in social matters. They jar, in 
fact, upon our social nerves. Society does not 
take kindly to smart, aggressive people. It is 
compelled sometimes to tolerate, and even to 
pay court, to them ; but it never loves them, and 
if they once fall, they fall like Lucifer, " never 
to hope again." Witness the Tranby Croft 
incident ! 

A smart, pushing person in the social world 
seems out of harmony with the eternal fitness 
of things. Now your American Countess, or 
Princess, or whatever her title may be, is the 
most enterprising social character in the whole 
world. She has absolutely no repose of mind 
or manner. She is always " on the go " and, 
like her father, the Wall Street broker, or the 
railroad wrecker, she wears herself out in a few 
years. Her enterprise is really a good thing, 
but it is in the wrong place. It was intended 
for the development of a new world, for the 
pine forests of Maine, and the gold diggings 



60 



THE AMERICAN GIRL IN PARIS. 

of California ; but it does not look well when 
confined to the limited domain of Old World 
salons. 

There are a number of American families, 
and detached individuals — bachelors, widows, 
and spinsters — living- in Paris upon one pre- 
tence or another; some on account of their 
health, some on account of their wealth — or 
want of it — and others on account of American 
courts of law. I am a little sceptical as to the 
plea of health, but I know perfectly well that 
the plea of money or a want of money is a 
valid one. One can live well in Paris on an 
income that would not pay house rent in New 
York. Then, again, the social inducement is 
a very substantial one to a great many peo- 
ple, for there are people in society in Paris 
who would be in prison in America. There 
are, however, some Americans, I am glad to 
say, who frankly *' own up " and confess that 
pleasure is their sole pursuit — and Paris is cer- 
tainly the place for pleasure. Now let me say 
a few words about American students of Art 
and of Music, of both genders, in Paris. 



61 



IX. 

AMEEICAN STUDENTS IN PAEIS. 

THE HOERIBLE DANGEES TO WHICH THEY AEE EX- 
POSED. 

Out of tlie hundreds of American students 
who come to Paris every year, a great number 
succeed in getting* back to their homes only 
through aid supplied from the Fund for Dis- 
tressed Americans, while many become, if not 
objects of charity, objects of shame. The sad 
story of the seduction and utter ruin of a 
young American girl — an Art student — by one 
of the well-known American painters in Paris, 
is of too recent date to require any further ref- 
erence. I may observe, however, that this man 
— a married man — is still flourishing in Paris, 
enjoying the fellowship of his brother artists, 
while his poor victim has been sent back to her 
heartbroken parents in the Far "West, in hope- 
less sorrow and shame. 

The fact is, that Americans and Englishmen 

62 



AMERICAN STUDENTS IN PARIS. 

in Paris are very much more given to that sort 
of thing- than the average Frenchman. For the 
Frenchman seldom deserts the woman he 
wrongs, and it is never in his power to lead 
astray a girl of respectable parentage. She is 
too carefully guarded for such a thing ever to 
occur. American and English girls do not 
have the protection at home which French girls 
have, and how, in the nature of things, can they 
have it in Paris ? They are sent to some French 
family, or pension ; to the care of some English 
or American lady residing in her own apartment, 
etc., etc., all of which simply signifies nothing 
at all, so far as any real protection goes. 

These girls are allowed to go out, at first in 
twos and threes, but it is not long before they 
are granted the liberty of walking out alone, 
and soon, very soon, they have made the 
chance acquaintance of a half dozen or more 
of their male compatriots, who make it their 
manly business to hunt down their pretty girl 
compatriots. 

More than this. These "French families" 
and " English and American ladies " have been 
known to help on these chance meetings, when 
the man happened to possess a long purse and 
showed a liberal hand. Once in a while the 



63 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

public is startled by some such revelations as 
the one I have mentioned ; and more recently 
that of a well-known naval officer, who is also 
an M.P., and heir to a baronetcy. But the 
great majority of such cases never come to the 
daylight, or are quietly hushed up, and the 
victim disappears, while the betrayer is allowed 
to go on the even tenor of his way. 

But the demoralization of the male art- 
student is even worse than the ruin of the girl 
students. Many, perhaps the majority, of 
these young men come froin pure and simple 
homes and communities, where indecent fe- 
males and nude models are unknown, and the 
first thing they behold on entering a Paris 
studio is a sight which covers them with con- 
fusion, and which they would be ashamed to 
mention to their fathers and brothers at 
home ; to say nothing of their mothers and 
sisters. 

Now and then there is a young man with an 
artistic feeling strong enough to carry him 
through the dirt and the reeking filth of Paris 
studios, without much of it sticking to him. 
Such cases, however, are very rare. The great 
majority of these young men are debauched, 
fatally debauched, in thought and feeling, and 



64 



AMERIGAN STUDENT8 IN PARIS. 

never become anything more than imitators 
and copyists of the very worst features of the 
French school — ^which is nothing if not " nat- 
ural," i.e., sensual and vulgar. 

But I have a further observation to make in 
regard to the " American Girl " who comes to 
Paris to study music, for she, to my mind, is 
the most pitiable object of them all. She is 
often sent to Paris with money subscribed by 
her neighbors and admirers, who think that she 
certainly will become nothing less than a Patti. 
Every American town has at least one girl who 
gives some such promise of greatness on the 
operatic stage or with the violin. I have seen 
many of them on their arrival in Paris. They 
are generally pretty, with a fresh natural voice 
and manner, which are always charming. The 
next time you see them, they tell you, with a 
knowing air, that their teacher has forbidden 
them to sing. A year or two passes before you 
meet them again, and when you do, what a 
change ! The freshness and naturalness both 
of voice and manner are gone, never to return ; 
and with them have departed all that was 
pleasing; and you have instead something 
they call *' method," which means something 
very artificial and something very unmusical. 



65 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Now and then one of these girls preserves 
her voice and becomes a good singer, in spite 
of teachers and their " methods." But the 
great majority succumb to the method and the 
abuse of their teacher, and pass from the pub- 
lic stage. The teachers will keep them just as 
long as their money holds out ; but when that 
is gone they suddenly discover that these girls 
never had any voices, and it was quite impossi- 
ble to make anything out of them. Not unfre- 
quently they receive the most brutal treatment 
at the hands of these teachers. I had the fol- 
lowing story from a good and creditable source. 
A young girl whose money was all spent went 
to her teacher and said she could take no more 
lessons. On giving her reasons, the teacher — a 
woman — ^responded, *'You have a pretty face 
and I see no reason why you should not have 
all the money you require. Eich men are 
plentiful in Paris." 

On another occasion this same teacher told 
one of her pupils — whose money was also gone 
— that she would never make a singer, and the 
best thing for her to do was to marry. " There 
is a little chemist down there," said she, point- 
ing across the street, " he has money and wants 
a wife — or something — and I would advise you 



66 



AMERICAN STUDENTS IN PARIS, 

to make his acquaintance." One of these 
teachers is growing rich upon her American 
pupils. How much longer, I wonder, will 
Americans continue to lay their dollars at the 
feet of such creatures % 



67 



X. 

PEOTESTANT MISSIONS IN PABIS 

AS CENTEES OF IMMOBALITY. 

Theee has been a great deal of money given 
in England and America for the support of a 
certain well-known Protestant mission in Paris. 
I have no doubt that many persons connected 
with the administration of this mission act 
from the very best motives. But I also know 
that many of the people in charge of these 
mission-stations are there for money, and are 
wholly unworthy the support of Christian — 
or any other — charity. These missions them- 
selves are often, as I have good reason for 
knowing, centres of immorality — in spite of the 
good intentions of their promoters. 

Night meetings in Paris, of such a free and 
miscellaneous character, can never result in 
good. I have heard of a number of cases of 
working girls — French and English — who 
meet their seducers at these meetings. And 



PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN PARIS. 

some of these men have been their religious 
teachers. These leaders at the night meetings 
are not infrequently artists, who give their ser- 
vices free of charge. 

There is another institution not far from the 
Arc de Triomphe, concerning which I should 
like to say a few plain words, but as the 
superintendent of this " Home " is now the 
wife of a colonial bishop I shall forbear, hop- 
ing that things may improve in many ways. 



69 



XI. 

AMEEICANS IN LONDON. 

JOHN BULL TAKES THEM TO HIS BOSOM — FOE A 
PERMANENCY. 

Whilst Americans liave always been popular 
in Paris, they have but recently — ^.e., within 
the last ten or twenty years — come into vogue 
in London. John Bull is not only the most 
conservative individual in Europe, he is also 
the most prejudiced. "Prejudice" and "con- 
servatism," I am aware, are equivalent terms, 
differing only in a very slight grammatical 
sense. But the word *' Conservative," whilst 
it includes all that can be meant by *' Preju- 
dice," has perhaps a keener and more intense 
signification. John Bull looks at but one side 
of any question, old or new, until he is obliged 
to look at the other. This is his conservative 
character, his passive character, for the true 
nature of the conservative principle is to ren- 
der its victim passive and indifferent to what is 

70 



AMERICAN'S IN LONDON, 

going on in the world about him, so that his 
personal quiet is not disturbed. 

John Bull sits in his comfortable corner, 
with his pipe and his mug, smoking and guz- 
zling and dozing over his party paper, and the 
only things that can arouse him is a cry of fire, 
or a flood, or an earthquake. Now, fortunately 
for John, there have been several such disturb- 
ances in the commercial, social, and political 
life of England during the last twenty-five 
years. The truth is, John Bull's after-dinner 
nap has been frequently disturbed of late. He 
has been driven out of his corner and his arm- 
chair, that is, out of his purely passive or con- 
servative mood, more than once of late, and has 
been compelled to assume an active mood now 
and then. 

Now your conservative is always moved by 
prejudice, when he is moved at all, so that a 
conservative in action is always a man of blind 
prejudice. I suppose Brother Jonathan has 
done more to disturb the quiet after-dinner 
slumbers of John Bull than any other person. 
He is such a nervous, restless, never- quiet sort 
of individual, is Brother Jonathan. This activ- 
ity is seen in all his ways, from the smallest to 
the greatest. If he drinks or smokes — but the 



71 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE. 

truth is he indulges less in these forms of ex- 
citement than any other Anglo-Saxon charac- 
ter — I say, if he drinks or smokes at all, he 
does it "on the go " — never sitting and dozing. 

When John Bull does not take his '' toddy " 
at his own fireside, he spends two or three 
hours in the public-house over a '* twopenny 
worth of half-and-half." Brother Jonathan 
enters the American saloon, asks for a whiskey 
or brandy straight (neat), tosses it off at one 
swallow, throws a glass of ice- water after it, 
rings down his quarter of a dollar on the 
counter, and is gone like a shot. 

John Bull looks on at such an extraordinary 
performance with amazement and disgust. 
But the worst of it is (for John Bull) the 
Yankee carries this quick, restless movement 
into everything commercial, political, and in- 
tellectual ; and in order to keep up with him, 
or somewhere near him, John Bull's after-din- 
ner nap has had to be given up more than 
once. He refused for a long time to have 
this " Yankee " interfere with his slumbers, 
and swore and kicked out at intervals in his 
broken dreams with all the vigor of his deep 
chest and stout legs. But it was all to no pur- 
pose, for he could not sleep, and whenever he 



72 



AMERICANS IN LONDON. 

opened his heavy eyes, the tall, slight figure of 
Brother Jonathan flitted before him like a 
spectre, and the sharp, high-pitched, twanging 
Puritanical tones of the Yankee voice sounded 
unceasingly in the dull ears of the sleeper. 

The American Civil War gave " John " a few 
years of comparative peace and quiet, and he 
hoped, did honest John in his heart of hearts, 
that it was "all up " with this universal disturb- 
er of his peace. But John was not wide-awake 
enough to read correctly the signs of the times. 
He made, in fact, one of those miscalculations 
which are rare with him to be sure, but which 
are very awkward when they do occur. The 
Yankee nation did not go to pieces as " John 
Bull " believed and fondly hoped it would. 
On the contrary, it came out of its awful bap- 
tism of blood stronger and steadier, with a 
sober-mindedness, a seriousness of character, 
which it had not before possessed, and which 
was very much needed. And now with these 
very dearly bought national qualities the Ee- 
public of the United States of America has 
come to stay, and must be reckoned with every- 
where and at all times by the nations of the 
world. 

John Bull has at last waked up and sees this 



73 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

clearly, and wlien lie does clearly see that a 
thing is inevitable there is no further need of 
exhortation ; he accepts it, adds it to his creed, 
and acts upon it. The American ]pill was a 
bitter, a very bitter one, for him to swallow, 
fond as he is of pills. But John has swallowed 
it at last, and there is the end of the matter. 

Of course, it was never a very difficult thing 
for him to swallow the American sugar-coated 
female pellet. But now her father and brother, 
and all the other male members of the family, 
are taken down without a single wry face. And 
thus it is that Americans have, by slow but 
sure approaches, come to be almost as much 
the vogue in London as the English are in New 
York or Boston. John Bull is not fickle, and 
London will continue to cultivate her trans- 
atlantic kinsfolk of both sexes for centuries yet 
to come. The most conspicuous American in 
London is 

A LADY WITHOUT A TITLE. 

This lady was born and brought up in Bos- 
ton, and from the age of sixteen, or thereabouts, 
was subjected to the envious gossip of Boston's 
very intellectual, though, truth to say, plain 

74 



AMERICANS IN LONDON. 

motliers and daughters. These Emersonian 
females believed that there is no such thing as 
beauty — save of the mind — and they could not 
understand how this young lady, with her very 
objectionable manners, could be countenanced 
by nice people. In other and perhaps plainer 
words, the strong minded " blue -stockings " 
of Boston, who scorned all physical charms, 
would not tolerate without protest the pop- 
ularity of a very pretty and a marvellously 
gifted young lady, who thought more of dress- 
ing and dancing and flirting than she did of 
Emerson or of Brook Farm or Bunker Hill 
monument. So this young lady, with no lack 
of brains, but with keen enjoyment of her flesh 
and blood, was talked about by her bloodless 
and fleshless townswomen. 

But these mentors, or rather mentoresses, 
were put to silence one fine day when one of 
the grand dames of the " Hub," a lady of the 
highest social rank, took this frivolous beau- 
ty with her to Saratoga for a season. " How 

could Mrs. O do such a thing," was all they 

dared to whisper. Having once left Boston 
and its cant, it was but natural that this young 
lady should have no burning desire to return 
to this intellectual centre of the universe; to 



75 



AMEBI0AN8 IN EUROPE. 

Parker, and Wendell Pliillips, and Mrs. Julia 
"Ward Howe ; to bacon and beans ; to brown 
bread and cod-fish balls; to plain living and 
high, thinking. 

This very pretty girl (who had, by the way, 
more brains under her bonnet than any half 
dozen of her strong-minded critics) further 
outraged Boston culture by giving herself in 
marriage to a New Yorker. Since that event, 
no Bostonian could possibly speak well of this 
lady, and the truth is they do not try to do so. 
She was not long in Gotham without being 
known. Soon after her arrival in America's 
richest and most vulgar city, she gave a party 

to the Marquis of H , who is now one of 

England's greatest Dukes. At this party the 
hostess created a sensation in the social world 
by wearing a coronet of gas. 

The noble marquis also created a sensation, 
not only by the noble coronet he wore, but es- 
pecially on account of a certain peculiar dec- 
oration he wore in his buttonhole. It was 
during the American War, and the Northern 
sympathizers with the rebellion were called 
" Butter-nuts," — I have not the slightest notion 
why, but so it was. These sympathizers with 
rebellion accepted this epithet, gloried in it, so 



76 



AMERICANS IN LONDON 

it seems, and had a scarf-pin made out of the 
hull of this nut. 

At this great party some fascinating" woman 
— the hostess, I have little doubt — presented 
the young and innocent English nobleman 
with one of these badges of treason, which he 
— innocent soul ! — wore in his buttonhole dur- 
ing the evening. The American daily paper 
was equal to the occasion, as it is to most occa- 
sions, and this new lady's party and the great 
nobleman's name were grappled together with 
hooks of steel ever after. Was this gifted lady 
a Southern sympathizer ? Not a bit of ifc. She 
simply had the happy knack of turning all 
things to her own social account. There was 
no question of her social pre-eminence in New 
York after the papers had finished discussing 
her party and the butter-nut nobleman. 

But American society is not quite suited to 
a woman of this type. It is not centralized 
enough ; it is broken up into too many circles 
to give proper range to a woman of this calibre. 
New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore — and even Chicago — have their own 
social world ; and no one lady can hope to 
reign supreme in all, or indeed in more than 
one, of these cities. Local prejudice and 

77 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

democratic principles are very strong in eacli 
one of these great centres, and the chief social 
honors are always given to native talent. 

The social rewards in America are not there- 
fore sufficient to induce a lady of supreme abil- 
ity to enter into the contest, or at least con- 
tinue in it very long. Paris is France, London 
is England, Yienna is Austria, Berlin is Ger- 
many, St. Petersburg is Eussia, but New York 
is not America. European society, like Euro- 
pean politics, is centralized. This Boston girl 
took in the situation, and it was not long be- 
fore she turned her face toward Europe. 

Paris was at that time the paradise of Ameri- 
cans living, as it is now said to be of Ameri- 
cans dead. To Paris this lady journeyed fresh 
from her New York triumphs. But she en- 
tered the "lists" at the French capital with- 
out any of the advantages of her transatlantic 
victories. The truth is, she entered the social 
race — the social Grand Prix, if you please — 
very heavily handicapped, and won her first 
race under anything but favorable conditions. 
She attended a masked ball at the "Tuileries" 
and captured Napoleon III., as Miss Patterson 
had captured his uncle Jerome, in one evening, 
and that too without the aid of her face. 



78 



AMERICANS IN LONDON. 

It was in the character of "Punchinello" 
that she appeared at the royal ball. The Em- 
peror had no idea as to her identity, but sus- 
pected her nationality and was determined to 
know her. At the Imperial reception which 
followed the ball, Napoleon was observed to 
toy carelessly with a miniature bell. Lady 
after lady was presented to the Emperor and 
Empress when suddenly the Emperor bowed 
low and offered the toy-bell to an American 
lady saying", " This is your property, is it not, 
madame % " Our Boston girl blushed becom- 
ingly, admitted the soft impeachment, and 
from that time she had the Emperor of the 
French securely on her list. It is hardly nec- 
essary for me to explain that the Emperor had 
roguishly purloined this little trophy from the 
costume of Punchinello on the night of the ball. 
From Paris this lady moved onward and up- 
ward, to London. I say upward, for several 
good and sufficient reasons. I must first ad- 
mit, however, that the brilliancy of the French 
court at the height of Napoleon III.'s reign 
surpassed, incomparably, that of any other Eu- 
ropean capital ; while the English court — if court 
it might be called — was the dullest of all the 
great Powers. But— and it is these "buts" 



79 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

after all that determine the relative value of 
things — a woman may be very prominent, very 
conspicuous, in official social circles in Paris, 
without having any real power or influence. 
For there are women in the great world of 
Paris who are not and never can be of the great 
world of Paris. 

Certain things are taken for granted- as the 
price paid by all women who become very con- 
spicuous, in any way whatsoever, in Paris. In 
Prance these official granddames are never the 
subjects of gossip, for the simple reason that 
their elevation is supposed to tell its own story 
to anyone and everyone ; and what everybody 
knows, or think they know, can never be an 
interesting subject of gossip. Our Boston girl 
had lived long enough in New England to have 
her wits thoroughly about her. If she did not 
know much or care much for the '* over-soul," 
she knew enough not to overdo her part ; and 
she soon saw that to hold her place in Paris, 
and at the French court, was to lose what Cas- 
sio prized above everything else — reputation. 
She was not disposed to part with that com- 
modity ; so she turned away from the intoxica- 
tions of Parisian life, to the more sober atmos- 
phere of London. 

80 



AMERIGAN8 IN LOWDON. 

Now, say what you will of John Bull's cant, 
of his Sundaj'^s and psalm-singing, in spite of 
these things he is at bottom — what Dr. John- 
son said of someone, to the great amusement 
of Hannah More — an honest and truly relig- 
ious person ; and will not give the light of his 
rather heavy countenance for long to women 
who do not lead honest and respectable lives — 
or, at least, who do not have the reputation of 
leading honest and respectable lives. 

Our heroine knew this peculiarity of the 
British nation and did not stop too long in 
Paris, but just long enough ; and then she 
folded her tent, and, like the Arab, silently 
stole away, to London town. She was not 
wholly unknown in London, for, as we know, 
she had once upon a time given a party in New 
York to a distinguished British nobleman, heir 
to one of the greatest dukedoms in England. 
She had also met another Englishman — of 
foreign extraction — Albert Edward, Prince of 
"Wales. She had met this very august person- 
age first in America in 1861 and afterward in 
Paris, and, of course, had him securely on her 
list. She thus entered the British capital and 
began her career in London under the most 
powerful patronage ; and she has never lost it. 

81 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

For more tlian twenty years the Boston lady 
without a title has been the most conspicuous 
American woman in London. Many have been 
the efforts to supplant her ; to weaken her in- 
fluence; to destroy her commanding position 
in the social world of London ; but these efforts 
have thus far proved vain and impotent. At 
first, almost every American girl who has hap- 
pened to capture an English title makes a bold 
effort to get on without knowing this Ameri- 
can lady without a title — tries, in plain words, 
to snub this lady ; but it doesn't pay ; and my 
new lady comes round at last and eats some- 
thing very like humble pie from this lady's 
table. 

I would therefore advise all newly crowned 
American girls to make terms at once and at 
any cost with this uncrowned queen of Ameri- 
cans in London society. If they do not, they 
will rue it ; mind my word! This lady is one 
of the most accomplished women in either hem- 
isphere. She sings well enough to have made 
a great career on the operatic stage ; and she 
plays as well as she sings. Add to these 
accomplishments beauty, wit, and grace, and 
you have the most powerful social force con- 
ceivable. 



AMERICANS IN LONDON. 

Unfortunately for me, I have heard this lady 
sing but once ; and that, strange to relate, was 
at a fashionable wedding at St. George's, Han- 
over Square. We had been seated in the 
church for some time after the appointed hour 
for the marriage ceremony when the organ 
sounded out the notes of the " Lost Chord," and, 
to my amazement, instead of a wedding march, 
we had this beautiful song arranged by Sir Ar- 
thur Sullivan sung by a lady in a way I had 
never heard it sung before nor since. The im- 
provised singer proved to be the subject of our 
sketch. 

I afterward learned that a telegram had 
been received which stated that the train carry- 
ing some of the bridal party had been delayed, 
and this lady held the wedding-guests with the 
charm of her voice until the bridegroom ap- 
peared. I do not believe there is another 
woman within the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, who would have, 
or could have, dared to do such an extraor- 
dinary thing. 

Speaking of the " Lost Chord " and its au- 
thor, reminds me that the musical knight is not 
the least of this lady's admirers. He is accused 
of being rather fickle in his worship of the fair 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

sex in general ; but as regards this lady in par- 
ticular he is faithfulness itself in his admira- 
tion, and she, I am told, prizes his devotion far 
above her most notable triumphs. 

There are numbers of American women in 
London who have succeeded in capturing, or 
buying, titles of various degrees, from a hum- 
ble knight to a duke; but they lose interest 
the moment they give up their simple American 
character for an old-world mask of any descrip- 
tion whatsoever. These titles cannot be any- 
thing but masks, however skilfully or gracefully 
they may be worn. 

I am perfectly certain I can go into a draw- 
ing-room or salon full of My Ladies, Countesses, 
and Princesses, and pick out every American 
woman at once ; and that before any of them 
have spoken a word. The American woman is 
«& always and everywhere acting a part ; she either 
overdresses, or underdresses ; overacts, or un- 
deracts her part ; she says too much, or too lit- 
tle. You may know her also by what she leaves 
unsaid, as well as by what she says ; by what she 
does not, as well as by what she does, do. Thus 
it is, that she is always under the cruel curse of 
being obliged to reveal her national character, 
and to declare herself a fraud. 



84 



AMEItIGAN8 IN LONDON. 

There is a certain very conspicuous Ameri- 
can lady in London wlio married a lord, 
the youngest son of a duke. She is very 
beautiful, ver^ graceful, very gifted in every 
way, and uncommonly popular, and deserves 
to be. She wears the mask of nobility with 
great art and distinction ; but there is no mis- 
taking the fact that she was not to this manner 
born; that she was to a very much better 
manner born, I sincerely believe ; and I also 
believe that this American would be a much 
greater social force if she were not handi- 
capped by " My Lady." 

But London swarms with American ladies of 
title, and I could not if I would — which, God 
forbid ! — mention half of them ; for the truth is, 
not one-fourth part of them is of any interest 
to any mortal but to themselves. There are one 
or two of the more recent Anglo-American 
alliances, however, which call for some passing 
notice. In one of these cases, there was, I am 
happy to say, no money consideration on the 
one hand, and no titular consideration on the 
other. On the contrary, strange as it may seem, 
the case I have in mind is that of an American 
woman who without money captured, or rather 
was caught by, an Englishman without a title. 

85 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

The facts are interesting. The gentleman in 
the case, a famous politician, went a-fishing 
in the troubled international waters of England 
and the United States and caught — well, if not 
a satisfactory treaty, something much better — 
a wife. He is, as I have said, without a title, 
but his position is becoming more equivocal 
every day as to this matter. That he is no 
longer the powerful Kadical politician he once 
was, or was thought to be, is now quite certain ; 
and it is beginning to look very much as if he 
were destined to be taken out of the company 
of his equals into the society of his inferiors, 
the House of Lords. How high he may be 
forced to rise I know not, but I have little 
doubt that he will some day attain the exalted 
rank of "Lord Chamberlain." I acquit his 
American wife, however, of all complicity in 
the plot. 

I must not forget to mention that a daughter 
of Minister Motley married a man with a title, 
although not much of a one ; and, barring this 
slight titular disfigurement, her husband, Sir 
William Yernon Harcourt, is, as an all-round 
hand in Law, Literature, and Politics, the 
cleverest man in England, — or anywhere else, 
so far as I know. 



AMERIGAJSrS IN LONDON. 

Concerning tlie rich American orphan who 
threw her fortune and herself away upon one 
of the blacksheep of the "Prince of Wales's 
set," I have- little to say. That this baronet 
and officer in Her Majesty's service — the rep- 
resentative of one of the oldest families in 
Scotland, and one of the most illustrious in 
England — could have accepted, the day after 
his conviction of having cheated and prevari- 
cated, the sacrifice of a foolish and romantic 
girl, is enough in itself to show to what depths 
the so - called " nobility " of Great Britain has 
sunk. 



87 



xn. 

THE AMEKICAN MINISTEK AT THE 
COUKT OF ST. JAMES. 

Many men, of many minds, have been sent, 
first and last, to occupy this very honorable but 
very useless post. Of these men New England 
has had her share, perhaps more than her 
share. This, the biggest and sweetest of all 
the diplomatic plums, has fallen to her lot very 
often. Everett, Bancroft, Adams — father and 
son — Motley, Lowell, and Phelps are a few of 
the New Englanders who have been sent by 
the United States as Envoys-Extraordinary 
and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of 
St. James. 

With hardly a single exception, these New 
Englanders have tried to play the game of 
" Old England," and have been beaten hollow. 
The first-mentioned gentleman was undoubt- 
edly an accomplished scholar and orator, and, 
when that is said, all the good is said that can 

88 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

be said about this functionary. He it was who 
began the toadyism to England and English 
things which his successors have kept up so 
well ever since. He is entitled — so I think — 
to the distinction of being the first of a rather 
lengthy line of New England snobs. Very 
gentlemanly snobs, I grant you— very schol- 
arly, refined, cultured snobs, it is true — but 
snobs all the same, wanting, every man of 
them, in that true dignity which attaches to 
anyone and everyone who is an American citi- 
zen, without explanation or apology, and who 
will not pay court to empty pretence, to the 
neglect of modest worth. 

The would-be great men who carry the lofty 
air of truculent apologists for their country are 
infinitely inferior to any simple-minded honest- 
hearted patriot, be he the humblest farmer or 
artisan in any American community. 

When the Civil War broke out, when men's 
souls were tried as by fire, this ex-minister to 
England could not make up his mind what to 
do till it was too late to do anything. The 
truth is, not one of these high-toned snobs 
went into the war. No, they stayed in Boston 
and criticized that first and greatest American, 
Abraham Lincoln, one of the best and ablest 

89 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

statesmen who has ever lived in any country or 
at any period. 

The second-named diplomat in my list was a 
true Yankee — in one respect, but not in the best 
respect. He always looked out for the main 
chance. I do not think there is a politician of 
this century who has thrived so well in office 
as has this distinguished historian and diplo- 
mat. He was always in office, and always in a 
lucrative office. His retirement was voluntary, 
but it was at a very advanced age, and after he 
had acquired a very snug fortune — acquired in 
an honest way, I have no doubt j but still while 
in office. 

The next minister on our list was the son of 
one President and the grandson of another. I 
have no special fault to find with this gentle- 
man's conduct as our Minister to England dur- 
ing the war. His services were respectable 
enough, but by no means so brilliant as some 
people would have us believe. It was after his 
return to America from this post that he, too, 
showed his narrow New England mind in not 
being able to appreciate the character of Lin- 
coln. This, in itself, is enough to damn 2jij 
American. Still he and his presidential ances- 
tors represent some of the best qualities of New 

90 



THE AMEBIC AN MINISTER. 

England life and character, which is now fast 
degenerating into empty pretence on the one 
hand, and snobbery on the other. 

The Puritans were strong characters, and so 
were many of their descendants — Emerson, for 
example. But it has been a long time (except- 
ing Emerson always) since any man of them 
has done or said anything of first-rate impor- 
tance. The war destroyed for ever the prestige 
of New England. Since 1861 the guiding star 
of the Eepublic has moved steadily westward, 
and will move westward. Let the East study 
the life and character of Lincoln, and the West 
the life and writings of Emerson, and all will 
go well with both sections — with all sections, 
indeed — of the American Republic. These two 
men are the true representative Americans of 
this century. Their names stand for the typi- 
cal national life and character of this country ; 
they represent, under varying forms and cir- 
cumstances, the New World with its new life, 
its new hopes, and its new order and method 
of saying and doing and living. 

But these two great Americans, Lincoln and 
Emerson, not only stand for the same national 
life and thought : they also have a striking re- 
semblance to each other in face and figure, and 

91 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

in many purely personal traits ; and, if we mis- 
take not, this has been seldom seen or re- 
marked. In wit and humor, in originality, in 
clearness of perception, in cheerfulness and 
simplicity, these men constantly suggest one 
another ; but especially are they alike — almost 
identical, indeed — ^in their self-command, in 
their splendid aplomb. 

Neither of them could be hurried or bullied 
into anything. They possessed a boundless 
patience, which kept them cheerful under all 
sorts of pressure, from within and without — 
from friends as well as enemies. 

Lincoln would not suffer the anti-slavery agi- 
tators to force his hand in the slightest degree, 
but took his own time, and when he was ready, 
or, in fitter words, when he knew the nation 
was ready, he issued his Emancipation procla- 
mation, and when he did so the country was 
prepared to act. 

Emerson always held on to his own individu- 
ality, and never suffered himself to be run away 
with, either by anti-slavery or temperance socie- 
ties or by Brook Farm lunatics. Lincoln stands 
for the rough, honest, strong, good sense and 
mental sanity of the West ; Emerson stands, in 
the fullest and highest sense, for the sanity of 



TEE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

the East. They were both radical, in the true 
sense ; they both went to the root of the mat- 
ter ; and neither of them could be diverted from 
his purpose nor hurried on to his object by the 
clamor and noise of impatient, albeit earnest, 
agitators. 

Lincoln is America's hero statesman ; Emer- 
son is America's hero thinker and writer. Kead 
and study and know these two American citi- 
zens, ye people of Europe, and then you will 
be able to form some judgment of the sim- 
plicity and beauty, the strength and grandeur, 
of the true, the genuine. New "World character. 
And let me say that Americans w^ho do not 
know and reverence and love these two men, 
are not worthy their great inheritance, and 
have no right to the noblest of all titles, that 
of American citizen. 

But my subject compels me to turn away 
from great statesmen and great thinkers to 
pseudo-diplomats and litUrateurs ; from Lincoln 
and Emerson to the Motleys and the Lowells 
and such, of whom America has always had 
enough and to spare. I do not doubt, nor 
would I underrate, the very high wit and su- 
perior intellectual ability of these literary gen- 
tlemen. They play the literary game with 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

great skill, witli marvellous cleyerness, and with 
most uncommon success. They never say the 
wrong- thing ; in fact, they always say the right 
thing, and in the right form. They know their 
business thoroughly well. They have studied 
their craft, and their workmanship is well nigh 
perfect in technique. We admire it, but that is 
all ; we can never love it. 

The *' Dutch Republic" is a most readable 
book; it contains many apt and brilliant ob- 
servations, with just enough philosophical pad- 
ding to give it proper body and weight. It de- 
serves to rank high as historical literature ; but 
that is all. There is something wanting to 
make it a truly great work — and that some- 
thing is sincerity. One cannot feel that this 
historical essay came from the heart of a sin- 
cere Republican. The case for the Republic is 
put remarkably well — too well I think — but it 
is put by the hand of a European litterateur^ 
and does not come from the heart of an Ameri- 
can citizen. But let that pass, and with it all 
offence. 

' Mr. Motley's remarkable literary success 
was a great surprise to his Boston associates. 
He was thought by his friends to have a very 
handsome, but a rather empty, head. He did 



94 



THE AMERIOAN MINISTER. 

not belong to a literary family, nor was he a 
member of the literary set, and wliat business 
had he to write books? It is true, he had 
taken his degree at Harvard and studied in 
Germany ; but that was the usual thing for 
Bostonians to do, and caused no remark. 

When he made his first effort as an author 
the literary Bostonians laughed and said, " the 
idea of a Motley being intellectual ! " and even 
after his very notable book appeared some of 
his friends at the Hub had their suspicions 
about his being the real author, and intimated 
that as his wife belonged to a literary family 
she probably wrote the history. But the new- 
comer held his own with the best of his towns- 
men, and now stands admittedly in the front 
rank of American and English men of letters. 

This distinguished writer was sent to Lon- 
don as American minister soon after the 
War, in which, by the way, he had taken no 
part. Here was his great chance. Here he 
had the opportunity of showing to England 
and the Old World a sample of the true repub- 
lican character, about which he had written so 
eloquently. But no ; instead of taking advan- 
tage of this chance to illustrate democratic 
principles, he wasted his time in cultivating 



95 



AMERIOANS IN EUROPE. 

the English nobility and in apologizing for the 
shortcomings of his Yulgar countrymen. 

He had the air of one who would say, " I am 
very sorry that I represent such a crude nation, 
but, ' gentlemen of the Old World,' I am sure 
you will understand and appreciate my awk- 
ward position. I know, of course, you are all 
right, and we are all wrong, but what am I to 
do ? I must pretend, of course, to believe the 
contrary, but you must not take me seriously." 
And these European gentlemen did not take 
him seriously, but indulged and humored him 
to the top of his bent ; still, he was perhaps the 
most conspicuous foreign resident in London, 
and one of the most accomplished. His close 
personal friendship with Prince Bismarck was 
very creditable to him, in many ways, and added 
enormously to his influence in London — ^but 
not as American minister. 

The fact is, Mr. Motley considered himself, 
and was considered by Europeans, to be of 
much more importance than his office. He 
was courted by people of the highest rank and 
reputation, and his receptions were the most 
brilliant, perhaps, ever given in London. The 
grand way in which he received his illustrious 
guests and placed them at table — calling each 



THE AMERICAN MimSTER. 

by his appropriate title, and seating each in 
his or her proper place, and strictly according 
to their relative ranks — was remarkable. This 
was the sort of thing, then, that Mr. Motley 
prized above all other duties and honors. 

At heart, this American representative loved 
always and best the European game ; and, now 
that he had a fine chance to play it, he did so 
in a very superb manner, and apparently with 
great success — certainly with great distinction. 
The few Americans who were permitted to 
approach this exalted personage gave the most 
glowing accounts of his splendor and glory. 

He shone — so they said — above all other 
diplomats, and above all ranks and titles, at the 
Court of St. James. But his secret love would 
out. In spite of his protestations, his affection 
for his native land was doubted, and this bright 
particular star suddenly set to rise no more. 
It was a plain, blunt soldier who did it, and 
the wail which went up from ''Americans in 
Europe " was long and loud and piteous. 
They said, " The idea of a man like Grant re- 
moving a gentleman like Mr. Motley!" It 
was nothing short of a national disgrace. 
" That is the way with these ignorant and vul- 
gar men who rule our country; if they do 

97 



AMEMIGAN8 IN EUROPE, 

happen to get a distingnislied gentleman like 
Mr. Motley to take a European post, they will 
not let him stay." 

So remarked these Americans in Europe ; and 
the coarseness of General Grant, and the low 
political condition of the American nation, were 
the general topics of discussion among these 
patriots. 

It seemed at first a very improper thing that 
the author of an essay entitled " Condescension 
in Foreigners " should be sent to represent the 
American Republic at the British Court; for, 
of all cultivated men of Boston, this gentleman 
had been the most severe critic upon what he 
called the bullying and patronizing airs of 
John Bull and his family. 

I expected to hear a protest raised in Eng- 
land and America against the indelicacy — not 
to use a stronger word — of such an appoint- 
ment. But not a bit of it ; the English knew 
their man much better than I knew him. They 
knew also that literary men should seldom or 
never be taken seriously — especially this man. 
They remembered their own Dickens, their own 
Bulwer Lytton, their own Buskin, and their own 
Carlyle — writers who sometimes denounced be- 
fore the public the things they loved in private. 



THE AMEBIGAN MINI8TEB. 

They — the hard-headed, practical Britons — 
remembered these things, and welcomed this 
distinguished American man of letters as 
American minister with the most unfeigned 
cordiality. He was their man, and they knew 
it, and their confidence was fully rewarded. 
But had he not written, " I think we are cleaner, 
morally and physically, than the English ? " Oh, 
yes, but in a Pickwickian sense. 

Had he not said, " Nothing is more hateful to 
God and men than a second-rate Englishman % " 
I admit that too, but there are no second-rate 
Englishmen, except in a merely abstract sense. 
But how is the following to be explained? 
" Though there is no thoughtful man in Amer- 
ica who would not consider a war with Eng- 
land the greatest of calamities, yet the feeling 
towards her here is very far from being cord- 
ial, whatever our Minister may say in the effusion 
which comes after ample dining T Was not this 
something very like a threat % Well, yes, it 
might perhaps be so considered if it came from 
a coarse man like Lincoln or Grant ; but coming 
as it did from a highly cultivated and refined 
literary gentleman, it meant nothing but 
"copy." Just so, all of the very witty, very 
clever, and very humorous things this literary 



99 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE, 

statesman had written were well known in Lon- 
don — much better known, I imagine, than in 
America — and far better appreciated for their 
true literary worth. That they had any serious 
political meaning was never thought of for one 
moment in Great Britain. 

The new American minister was, therefore, 
accepted for what he was — viz., a man of re- 
markable literary ability. In that character it 
was, and that character only, that Mr. Lowell 
soon became one of the social lions of London. 
No function or ceremonial was complete with- 
out the American Minister. He was equally in 
demand, and equally at home, in all circles; 
and he was, I think, unanimously considered to 
be the best after-dinner speaker in England. 

But then he had taught us not to put too 
much faith in what our " Minister may say in 
the effusion which comes after ample dining." 
The brilliant social success of Mr. Lowell re- 
called to Americans in London the glories of 
the Motley period, and they were happy once 
more. The special happiness of a certain 
American newspaper correspondent knew no 
bounds, and the minister and the journalist 
became the closest friends. 

Mr. Lowell, like his fellow-townsman, Mr. 

100 



THE AMEBIOAN MINISTER. 

Motley, was mucli above his office, to say noth- 
ing of his party. That he was a greater man 
than the President of the United States, went 
in London without saying. I remember once 
asking him something about President Garfield ; 
and I remember also his calm, dignified, supe- 
rior air when he replied, " I have no personal 
acquaintance with the gentleman." How much 
these words expressed ! Of course, the Presi- 
dent knew Mr. Lowell, else how could he have 
placed him at such an important post ? That 
Mr. Lowell should know the President was a 
very different matter. 

This great man condescended now and then 
to be seen by his country-people visiting 
Europe, but he gave them all to understand 
that his mission was to the English Court and 
the English aristocracy, and that he was not 
to be annoyed by the American democracy. 
He made it a rule of office to see two, and 
only two, classes of Americans — the highly 
cultivated American gentleman and the unlet- 
tered hind, or simple American farmer. The 
hoard of vulgarians included between these 
two extremes he would have naught to do 
with. 

But was this distinguished gentleman and 



101 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

man of letters a diplomat ? Ask Mr. Gladstone 
or the Marquis of Salisbury tlie question ; but 
do not be surprised if a sly and roguisb wink 
should be their only mode of reply. Yet this 
minister was really liked in England by all 
classes, from Her Gracious Majesty the Queen 
down to the radicals of Birmingham ; and his 
removal was more regretted than that of any 
foreign minister or ambassador during the 
present reign ; and I believe the Queen said as 
much to the minister himself. 

This most distinguished of men remained 
true to his party, so long as his party remained 
in power and he in office ; but when the party 
suffered defeat he suddenly remembered his 
previous role as a reformer, and at once de- 
clared that the Kepublican party — the party 
that had sent him as minister to Spain and to 
England — ^was corrupt and no longer worthy his 
support, which he immediately transferred to 
the Democrats. I am not now speaking of the 
comparative merits of the two parties, but sim- 
ply wish to call attention to this great man's 
great political purity. 

I am sorry to say that since this was written 
Mr. Lowell has passed away, deeply regretted 
by all true lovers of good literature. I see no 



102 



THE AMERICAN MINI8TEB. 

reason, however, to claange one word of what I 
have said. In almost every notice of his life and 
writings which has appeared in the English 
press since his death, it has been said that Mr. 
Lowell was " an Englishman who happened to 
be born in America." 

The author of the "Biglow Papers" was a 
very hard man to follow, and no one but a New 
Englander could have been equal to this most 
embarrassing situation. So another New Eng- 
lander was brought forward ; and was found by 
the English to be almost, if not quite, as able to 
play their game as his distinguished predeces- 
sor. He followed indeed so closely in the lines 
of Mr. Lowell as to make any special notice of 
his diplomatic career in London highly super- 
fluous. 

This gentleman had been a professor, or 
something, at home, unknown beyond the col- 
lege walls ; but the moment it transpired that 
he had " caught on " to the English nobility, 
he became a great personage in New York and 
Boston, and all the little editors of all the big 
journals struggled with each other to be the 
first to get this new man's name upon their 
title page, in the list of distinguished contribu- 
tors. These editors dangled large checks be- 



103 



AMEBIOANS IN EUROPE. 

fore tills minister's eyes, and he proved not 
to be above tbe allurements of these editorial 
offers ; so, following in the wake of another 
great man, he wrote in a very lofty, and, truth 
to say, very wordy manner, upon the virtue of 
keeping silence — or, to be more precise, *' The 
Age of Words/' 

In this paper the ex-minister, — who had 
acquired what reputation he possessed as 
a speaker, — showed beyond any reasonable 
doubt that the most eloquent men of the world 
were the men who said nothing. Now a cer- 
tain man of letters, who has a realistic and very 
American mind, and who edited a certain de- 
partment in a certain magazine, took umbrage 
at the noisy and rather personally offensive 
way in which this silent ex-minister talked ; 
and believing that this mighty man had his 
eye fixed on his own dear loquacious country- 
men, he — ^the editor — " went for " that ex-min- 
ister in a manner that recalled most vividly 
the little contest between Bill Nye and the 
heathen Chinee. And when the editor had 
finished with the ex-minister, I have little 
doubt that His Excellency was convinced of 
the truth of his own gospel of silence, and 
wished in his great heart that he had practised 



104 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER, 

what he preached, — never, by the way, an easy 
thing to do. 

These ministers, whilst not very interesting 
in themselves, may, perhaps, serve us as step- 
ping - stones to higher things. And first 
amongst these higher things is "G. W. S.," 
American journalist to the Court of St. James. 
Ministers may come, and ministers may go, but 
G. W. S. stays on forever — or, if not forever, 
unaffected, at least, by the chances and changes 
of American political life. This distinguished 
"Norfolk squire" and journalist is also a 
New Englander by birth. He was educated at 
Yale College, where he was known as a boat- 
ing man. He began life as a war correspond- 
ent and gained undoubted distinction in that 
field. 

Soon after the close of the American War he 
went to England, and has stayed there ever 
since as the correspondent of one of the fore- 
most American daily journals. His success in 
English society has been phenomenal. On 
arriving in England he joined one of the best 
and most repectable clubs, avoided all Radicals 
and such, and has never been seen in any but 
the best company and in the best houses. He 
now and then sees an American, but his general 

105 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

rule is to deny himself to all his countrymen, 
except a select few, of whom the American 
Minister is usually one. 

You will have observed, if you are a reader 
of the journal to which this gentleman con- 
tributes, that he frequently dates his letters — 
not exactly as Macaulay did, from Windsor 
Castle, but at least from some of the most fa- 
mous country houses in England and Scotland. 
He was very kind to Minister Lowell, and 
vouched for Mr. Phelps to the English aris- 
tocracy. He is of course a Conservative in Eng- 
lish politics — all Americans in England are — 
but makes an honest effort, so I think, to give 
impartial reports of both parties. He was for 
some time a professed admirer of Mr. Glad- 
stone, and not only lent that aged statesman 
the aid of the powerful initial letters *' G. W. S.,'' 
but encouraged him with his individual pres- 
ence in one or two Midlothian campaigns ; 
dating his letters, in fact, from Dalmeny Park, 
and other great country houses, where the 
member for Midlothian was a guest. But 
since Mr. Gladstone's " Home Eule craze " this 
distinguished journalist has ceased to en- 
courage him by his presence or his pen, and 
has left him entirely to his own devices. 



106 



THE AMEEIGAJSr MimSTEB. 

There is also a well-known ex- American ed- 
itor in London society ; or at least there was, 
until a very "uncommon" breach of promise 
case in the law courts outraged his unsullied 
mind, disturbed his literary quiet, and sent 
him back to his native land in search of an in- 
dividual — sometime secretary, it is believed, to 
this innocent man of letters. Let uS hope that 
the true identity of this peccant individual may 
be clearly established ere long. This ex-editor 
— ^I do not mean " the individual " — of a demo- 
cratic journal came to London not only with 
very pure aims and reputation, but with an 
oiDen mind also ; and it was not long after he 
had been received by the aristocracy before 
he saw the error of his democratic ways. 

After his political conversion he was soon 
mustered into the army of Tory penmen, and 
has written two very able Conservative books ; 
one on the Irish question, and the other on the 
failure of the French Bepublic. This gentle- 
man had edited an unsuccessful party paper 
in New York, and when that party came into 
power, he hurried from London to Washing- 
ton, to demand the post of Minister to Eng- 
land, as the rev/ard of his editorial failures. 
Not obtaining this prize, he took up his pen — 



107 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

which he used with great skill — and stuck it 
straight into the body (politic) of the Ameri- 
can Secretary of State. He has now, I believe, 
given up all political ambition. The great 
wrong" which *'the individual" cited sought to 
do this gentleman, appears all the more cruel 
when we remember that the aforesaid editor 
began public life as a minister of religion, and 
is justly entitled to the prefix of " reverend " 
before his name, if he cared to claim this hon- 
orary title. 

It is not my purpose to mention all, or nearly 
all, of American writers in London : Mr. Henry 
James and Mr. Bret Harte are there, as every- 
body knows. Mr. James, to my mind, as critic 
and novelist, is the finest literary artist of the 
English language of this generation; but he 
has ceased to be, if he ever was, a true in- 
terpreter of American life and character. Mr. 
Bret Harte, on the other hand, in spite of his 
long residence in Europe, is still the most typi- 
cal of all American writers, and is far and away 
the most original, and the most powerful, liv- 
ing writer of fiction that I know anything 
about. 

I may just mention in passing, that it was an 
American journalist who discovered and re- 



108 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

ported the '' Bulgarian atrocities ; " and was 
thus the real author, if not the immediate 
cause, of the Russo-Turkish war. It is also 
true that the three American journalists, Mac- 
Gahan, Grant, and Millet, were the only war 
correspondents who kept the field from the be- 
ginning to the close of the Busso - Turkish 
war. 

SOME DISTINGUISHED ENGLISHMEN WHO WERE 
AMERICANS. 

I wonder how many English people know 
that they owe two of their most glorious insti- 
tutions to Americans in London ? The " Royal 
Society,'' and the " Royal Academy," were both 
founded by Americans ; but I very much doubt 
if there are one hundred of Her Gracious Maj- 
esty's subjects who are aware of these rather 
curious facts. 

The Royal Society was founded by the Amer- 
ican traitor, known in history as Count Rum- 
ford ; and the Royal Academy was established 
by Benjamin West, of Pennsylvania. 

Another rather distinguished American was 
the late Lord Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, son 
of the eminent Boston painter Copley, whose 



109 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

pictures are to be seen in tlie National Gallery. 
I could mention others, but these will serve. 

John Bull has a quiet way of appropriating, 
or rather of absorbing, what suits him, without 
so much as " by your leave." He might at least 
give American quotation-marks now and then. 
It would be quite impossible to convince the 
British public that " Home, sweet Home " was 
written by anybody but a Britisher. I have 
made one or two attempts to persuade them to 
the contrary, but in vain. Let me state the 
facts once more, as a last desperate effort. 
John Howard Payne, who wrote " Home, sweet 
Home," was an American by birth, education, 
and residence ; but I believe it is true that he 
was in London, and was sighing for his Ameri- 
can home, when he wrote this " British Air," as 
it is now called. The English approve of this 
song, and that of course settles its nationality. 

The English are good enough to like Long- 
fellow, and, strange as it may seem, not one in 
ten — ^I think I should be justified in saying ten 
thousand — knew at the time of his death, or at 
least chose to believe, that he was an American. 
That he lived at Cambridge, some of them had 
heard ; and, of course, there can be but one 
Canlbridge." But if you should succeed in con- 

110 



THE AMEBIC AN MINISTER. 

vincing' some uncommonly intelligent Britisher 
that certain distinguished Englishmen were 
really Americans, he calmly turns upon you 
with the crushing rejoinder, that " all Ameri- 
cans, of such and such times and places, were 
really English, you know." They will tell 
you, without the slightest suspicion of a joke, 
that the American War of Independence was 
fought by Englishmen on both sides. Hence 
such a thing as the defeat of the British was 
impossible. Quite so ; but according to this 
British manner of reasoning there is no such 
nation as America, and there are no siich peo- 
ple as Americans. Against which conclusion I 
modestly protest, on behalf of about sixty -five 
millions of people. But passing from the re- 
mote to the present time, I am sure I shall 
shock a large number of British subjects when 
I say that at this moment — I mean the moment 
of writing — there are at least three Yankees in 
the House of Commons. Think of that, now ! 

In the present art world of London there are 
to be found such American names as Whistler, 
Sargent, Boughton, Millet, and Abbey ; whilst 
Cambridge University (England) has, or had, 
an American professor ; and we all know that 
the late Mr. Lowell was offered a chair at Ox- 



111 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

ford. But Mr. "Whistler deserves and shall 
have a special notice in these pages. And first 
of all let me say, in the most entire and em- 
phatic way, that he is " our James," and not 
"your James," Mr. John Bull. 

If there is an American in Europe who has 
not suffered contamination from the effete civ- 
ilization of the Old World, that American is 
James Whistler. Now whatever bad thing Mr. 
Whistler may be, one thing he is not, viz., a 
fool. Everybody will grant this, I presume, 
without debate. British barristers were not 
long in finding this out, and somewhat to their 
confusion. He has his five senses well trained, 
and always at command; and behind these 
mere physical organs lies the keen perception, 
and the practical judgment, of as " cute " a 
Brother Jonathan as the present generation 
affords. 

Success, immediate tangible success, is sweet 
to all of us. We all wish to reap with our own 
hands the rewards of this present, actual, 
carnal world. Yery well, Mr. Whistler is not 
perhaps an exception to his fellow-mortals in 
this respect. He wished to succeed in his 
art, and cast about him for the most promis- 
ing field and the most promising means of 

112 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

success ; and he shrewdly hit upon England 
and the English people. He saw that to 
succeed in London was to succeed everywhere ; 
and he saw also that the English public is the 
easiest of all publics to handle, if one goes 
about it in the right way. Hence, Mr. James 
Whistler settled in London. But — and of this 
" but " please take special notice — ^he did not 
try to transform himself into a Britisher. 
This particular Brother Jonathan was wide 
awake, with his wits all about him, and he 
read the signs of the times, did our James ; 
and he saw that these signs clearly pointed to 
America as the coming nation ; and the Ameri- 
cans as the coming race. So he held on to 
himself, i.e., to his nationality. Not only this, 
but he held on to all the pronounced and pecu- 
liar traits of the genuine American character. 

He preserved, with care and affection, the 
twanging accents of his Puritan ancestors; 
exaggerated, in fact, everything that bespoke 
the true Yankee. His sense of values, or it 
may have been his feeling of patriotism, en- 
abled him to see that nothing was to be won 
but much to be lost, by any attempt to sup- 
press, or disguise in any way, his American 
birth and character. 



113 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

I know of but one instance in whicli Mr. 
"Whistler's nationality was a disadvantage to 
him. This was in the celebrated case of 
"Whistler v. Euskin." Had the plaintiff in 
that case been a British subject, I feel quite 
sure that substantial damages would have been 
given him against the vulgar abuse and libel- 
lous language of the British Saint Buskin. 
But it is very hard for a British judge or jury 
to deliberately take money out of an English 
pocket and put it into a Yankee's. *' These 
Yankees have enough and to spare," so the 
British judge and jury apparently reason. 

Of Mr. Whistler's peculiar ways and tricks 
of drawing the public, I know little, and have 
less to say. That he drew and is drawing the 
British public most successfully, we all know. 
But one thing I wish to remark. Beneath all 
this novel show and outward seeming — posing, 
if you prefer — there stands a man who is a 
genuine artist in every muscle and fibre, in 
every thought and feeling, of his being ; a man 
who could not do an unartistic thing if he 
tried. I therefore place Mr. James Whistler, 
painter, on my list of Americans in Europe 
who are somebodies. 

I promised to say something m^ore about a 



IH 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER. 

certain great dame who has removed her court 
from Paris to London. But I find that I have 
really little more to communicate, except to 
state that this lady gives a dinner now and 
then to H. K. H. the Prince of Wales. 

There have always been a few Americans 
in London on business bent. The late Mr. 
John Bright used to say that whenever, or 
wherever, he met an American, he, Mr. Bright, 
always asked him what patent-right he had 
to sell? But the day of patent-rights has 
passed; and the day of mines as well; and 
I very much doubt if Brother Jonathan ever 
got many pounds sterling out of John Bull's 
pockets on either of these accounts. The busi- 
ness methods of the two countries have little 
or nothing in common ; and it has always 
been a very difficult thing for an American 
to sell anything in London, from a mine to a 
mouse-trap. John Bull has a strong dislike 
to Brother Jonathan's business ways — ^Ameri-' 
cans can talk each other into almost anything ; 
they can talk an Englishman out of almost 
anything. The more an American talks of his 
wares, the less the Englishman believes in 
them. Englishmen are not good talkers them- 
selves, and naturally mistrust those who are. 



115 



AMEBIGAN8 IN EUROPE. 

More than tliis, they hate people who have the 
gift of the gab. 

I know a man who came to London with a 
mine to sell. He was provided with every- 
thing necessary to prove the value of his 
property. He had specimens of ore; certifi- 
cates of assayers — English as well as Amer- 
icans ; testimonials to his own character and 
financial standing, etc. After remaining six 
months in London he succeeded in getting a 
city man to listen to him ; but not in business 
hours. The American was invited to dine with 
the Englishman at his home, and after dinner 
he had a good opportunity of setting forth the 
great value of his silver mine. His host lis- 
tened for more than an hour to what he had to 
say, without a single remark. 

Some weeks after this, the American had a 
note from this man asking him to call at his 
office in the city. This seemed encouraging, 
and he was promptly on hand at the appointed 
hour. The Englishman was the first to speak 
this time, and he began by saying : '* Come 
now, have you really any mine at all ? " The 
Yankee was speechless. After all his talk; 
after all his printed and written documentary 
evidence, which the Briton had thoroughly ex- 

116 



THE AMEBIC AN MINISTER. 

amined; after all lie himself had vouched for 
as a well-known New York financier ; after six 
months of patient waiting ; the question para- 
lyzed him. But there sat the city man with 
his cold blue eyes fixed upon the Yankee with- 
out the slightest suspicion that he had said a 
rude thing, or asked an unreasonable question. 
The American got up, put on his hat, but- 
toned up his coat very deliberately, and, in 

turning to depart, said, " You can go to h , 

sir, for an answer to your d d British inso- 
lence ! " That sold the mine. For the Amer- 
ican had one, and a good one too. 

This is the only hond fide sale of an Amer- 
ican mine by an American that has taken place 
in London for many a day. American mines in 
London are generally controlled by English 
sharpers known as "promoters," who under- 
stand perfectly the art of " doing " their confid- 
ing country-people. The celebrated mine as- 
sociated with the name of a certain American 
Minister to London, and into which many inno- 
cent Britons dropped many pounds sterling, 
was wholly an English enterprise, owned and 
managed by city men, or a city man. The 
mine itself, as sold by the honest American 
vendor, was all it had been represented to be ; 



117 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE, 

but these London "promoters" found that it 
was more profitable to sell the stock than to 
•work the mine. This somewhat unusual method 
of doing business did not prove entirely satis- 
factory to the general body of stockholders, 
and it was in time abandoned. The fame, or 
the infamy, as the case may be, of the mine in 
question should properly attach to the titled 
London promoter, and not to the untitled 
American vendor. But it is hard for the Eng- 
lish mind to appreciate the real merits of this 
rather mixed transaction ; and the result has 
been to weaken the confidence of the British 
public in American mines and methods. 

There are one or two other things which 
have not helped American credit in London, 
I refer to the American exchanges, reading- 
rooms, and American agencies, which have 
thriven for a time upon the innocency of the 
American tourist, and have then suddenly de- 
parted this life, leaving no wreck behind, in 
the shape of assets. From such examples of 
American men of business, and from the very 
dubious sort of American bankers who have 
haunted Charing Cross and vicinity, at one 
time under the patronage and presidency of a 
most potent, grave, and reverend American 



118 



THE AMEBIGAN MINISTER. 

Senator; from such object lessons, I say, in 
American business methods, in London, the 
stupid English have come to reckon all Yan- 
kee dealings, and have decided to keep clear of 
them. 

At this point I shall give a free tip to my 
beloved country -people who visit the English 
metropolis. During your sojourn in London, 
it is just as well to deprive yourself of the busi- 
ness services of your compatriots who reside in 
England, What you have to purchase, pur- 
chase from honest John Bull, without any cards 
or notes of introduction from anybody ; espe- 
cially from your own people. These things are 
always very expensive ; they mean at least ten 
per cent, added to your bill. 

One other suggestion. Because you have to 
pay big prices in New York, do not therefore 
conclude that you can get the same things for 
nothing in London. English shopkeepers have 
to live — or at least think they ought to be giv- 
en a chance of life — as well as the New York 
merchant. I have often wondered how it is 
that an American will meekly endure all sorts of 
impositions and extortions in his own country, 
but explodes with indignation and rage if he is 
asked to pay two shillings for a drive in London, 

119 



AMEBIGAN8 IN EUROPE. 

which wonld cost him two dollars in New York. 
There is one more observation or query I should 
lilce to make ; why is it that Americans ahvays 
travel first-class in the United States and on 
the Atlantic steamers, but in Europe generally 
take second or third class ? 



THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 

There are a few Americans who seem to divide 
their time about equally between the two 
countries. The most prominent member of 
this class is a certain well-known Anglo-Scotch 
American who seems to be altogether too large 
for either Continent ; and can only get suffi- 
cient scope for his mighty genius and his great 
charities by taking England and Scotland into 
his care and keeping, as well as the rather 
biggish American Eepublic. 

This gentleman divides his time, and his 
millions, about equally between Great Britain 
and the United States ; and the advantage of 
this course, considered merely as an advertise- 
ment, is enormous. In order that there might 
be no mistake about the advertisement, he 
bought up at one time in England a half dozen 
or so provincial papers, and at least one metro- 



130 



THE AMEBIGAN MINISTER, 

politan evening journal. Tlie latter lie placed 
in the safe and canny hands of a fellow-Scot, 
and it was confidently believed that by the 
careful editing of these multitudinous journals, 
their owner might be able to take a seat in the 
House of Commons, and lend his distinguished 
support to the " Grand Old Man," and his grand 
new schemes. But upon second thought, this 
Parliamentary coup was not made ; and why ? 
Because it would have shown, in the outward 
seeming at least, a partiality for Great Britain, 
as against the United States ; a preference for 
the English Parliament over the United States 
Congress. 

This was not, however, true, as the million- 
aire's object in entering Parliament was not 
personal or selfish, in any respect. His motive 
in seeking a Parliamentary career was obvious- 
ly of the highest and purest sort ; nothing less, 
in fact, than the Americanizing of the whole 
British realm. But he was persuaded by Mr. 
Gladstone, and others, that he could better 
accomplish his great revolution by remaining 
out of party politics ; and they also convinced 
him that his millions and his pen were mightier 
than his tongue. And so he has remained out 
of Parliament, and out of office, and has em- 



131 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

ployed his pen — or somebody's pen — in writing" 
*' Triumphant Democracy," a work which shat- 
tered, at once and forever, the frail monarch- 
ical structures of the Old World. This book, 
together with his very extensive philanthropic 
schemes, were all the advertisement required, 
and rendered his English journals a superfluous 
expense. They were therefore disposed of, and 
at a profit. 

This great magnate is now occupied for the 
most part in writing to the daily press and 
monthly magazines concerning the great re- 
sponsibility of his exalted position. He knows 
— no one knows better than he— that the prin- 
ciple of not letting your left hand know what 
your right hand doeth, is wholly impracticable 
in this age of keen competition. 

AMERICAN ACTORS AND SINGERS IN LONDON. 

It was a long time before the American actor 
and actress were at all acceptable in London — 
Sothern and Jefferson were exceptions, and 
were always greatly admired. Lawrence Bar- 
ret was a failure ; and Edwin Booth nearly so. 
Booth was very much admired, when he acted 
with Irving in 1881 ; but when he returned the 

122 



THE AMERIGAJSr MINISTER. 

next year and tried the public on his own 
account, he hardly paid expenses, if indeed he 
did that. 

Miss Mary Anderson was almost the first 
American actress who achieved an unqualified 
success in England. Since then the "Daly 
Company " has completely conquered the Brit- 
ish public, and is by far the best " Comedy 
Company" speaking the English language. 

On the other hand, American singers and 
fiddlers, and even whistlers, have had little 
trouble in reaching the English ear, and win- 
ning the English heart. Patti, Albani, Minnie 
Hauk, Nordica, Antoinette Sterling, and Mrs. 
Osgood are Americans, and are all much ad- 
mired by the British public. Nettie Carpenter 
drew her first bow to a London audience ; and 
she has drawn the English public ever since. 
And are not the notes of the great American 
whistler still ringing in the ears of London 
Society ? 



123 



XIII. 
PENSIONS. 

AS MATRIMONIAL AGENCIES. 

A HISTORY of pensions on the continent of 
Europe would make interesting reading. I do 
not mean to write it, but will give a few brief 
sketches, which the future historian may pos- 
sibly find of some help. And, first of all, it is 
just as well to say that by pensions I do not 
mean boarding-schools for girls or boys, but 
boarding-houses for all sorts and conditions of 
men and women, especially women. 

These institutions are almost invariably kept 
by people who have seen " better days." In 
fact, it not infrequently happens that the host- 
ess of a pension is the widow of a nobleman 
or a " distinguished diplomat." If such dis- 
tinction is not openly avowed in the advertise- 
ment, one frequently hears mysterious hints 
that Madame, Signora, or Frau, as the case may 
be, could a tale unfold of proud family titles 

124 



PENSIOirS. 

worn by a long line of distinguislied ancestors. 
But, alas ! present circumstances would render 
such titles inappropriate. There remain, how- 
ever, one or two old portraits emblazoned with 
arms and decorations, which may be seen 
hanging" about in rather conspicuous places, 
and concerning which it is expected that the 
guests will ask no direct questions, but tacitly 
accept them as family heir-looms. No pension 
is properly furnished without some such evi- 
dence of past greatness. 

There are shops called " Art Eooms " in 
Paris, London, Berlin, Kome, Florence, and 
other centres of fashion, which make a specialty 
of furnishing portraits of ancestors for " noble- 
men " and pension keepers. These shops keep 
a curious variety of goods, and one can get a 
count or a general, a bishop or a judge, for 
the very reasonable sum of fifty francs, a little 
less than ten dollars. I have seen a gallant 
colonel covered with "decorations" maintain- 
ing the ancestral honor of a " count " and two 
pensions. 

I lived for some months just opposite one of 
these " Art Kooms," otherwise heir-loom manu- 
factories, and dropped in now and then to have 
a look around. The proprietor was a good- 



125 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

natured little man, and talked very freely about 
his business. He said, among other things, 
that the sale of "episcopal" relations had 
fallen off very greatly since His Holiness, the 
Pope, suffered the loss of his temporal power, 
and that the "military" heir-loom has been the 
fashion since the unification of Italy. 

He told me that a few years ago he had a 
sudden and very unexpected "run," as we 
should say, for several months on "feudal 
barons,** and was compelled to employ an ad- 
ditional artist and two extra models. He after- 
ward learned that this " run " was caused by a 
certain novel read very much by American 
girls, in which the "feudal baronial " or brig- 
and life was set forth in the most heroic and 
picturesque manner, and during this exciting 
period the American girl would listen to no 
man who could not produce portraits of feudal 
baronial ancestors. 

Our conversation generally took place with 
a counter between us, but one bright morning 
I found my friend the art dealer in a very com- 
municative and confidential mood, and I vent- 
ured to ask if I might see " the studio." The 
amiable little man looked at me for a moment 
with a merry twinkle in his eye, and replied : 



126 



PENSIONS, 

" Signore, you would know my secret. You 
would penetrate my mystery. Yery well then, 
so you shall ; for I have sold several copies of 
the old masters through your kindness." (I 
wish here to explain that these '* Art Rooms " 
always have copies of the old masters for sale, 
and this shop usually had some very good 
copies, which my friends sometimes carried 
home with them.) 

On entering the studio the " ancestral " 
wardrobe was the first object of interest. This 
wardrobe contained a full episcopal habit, the 
complete antique uniform of a colonel and a 
general; the court dress of the different ranks 
of nobility, and the robes of the superior judi- 
cial orders. 

*' But where," I asked, " do you get the mod- 
els for all these grand personages ? " 

"There he is," said the jolly little Italian, 
and looking round I saw a man sitting, like 
a statue, in full court dress. 

"There he is," repeated my genial friend, 
" or rather there they are, for this man is the 
colonel and the general, the bishop and the 
judge, the count and the baron, or anything 
you please." 

An artist, with paint-brush in hand, now 



127 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

made his appearance around a wing of the 
studio, and with a bow, said : 

" And now, Signore, what would you prefer 
your great grandfather to h^-ve been — a gen- ., 
eral, a baron, a bishop, or a judge ? You have * 
only to say the word, and the thing is done." 

The artist had overheard our conversation, 
and with the quickness of the Italian had taken 
in the situation and was disposed to have his 
joke. But these little by-paths tempt one from 
the main track of one's subject. 

There are a ie^ pension keepers who make no 
claim to title or other badges of distinction, 
but, strange to say, depend upon the good 
qualities of their board and lodgings, together 
with the high character of their patrons, for 
testimonials. George Eliot lived for many years 
in a pension J where some of the most distin- 
guished men of their time were now and then 
entertained — men like Emerson and Dr. Porter, 
late President of Yale University. Amongst 
others, Hawthorne made his residence in a 
pension when he was United States Consul to 
Liverpool. 

There are one or two pensions in London, 
Paris, Berlin, Dresden, Rome, and perhaps in 
some other Continental resorts, where travellers 



128 



PENSION'S, 

may go with tlie full assurance that they will 
be made not only comfortable, but will be 
pretty certain to meet none but respectable 
people. They will also be protected from all 
impostors. 

But one needs to be very careful in selecting 
a pension — a great deal more careful than in 
choosing a hotel, for in a hotel one lives apart ; 
in a pension one must live en famille with all 
the pensionnaires, inmates, boarders, or what- 
ever you choose to call them. 

I may just say in passing that " private fami- 
lies " who take " only a select few " are nothing 
more nor less than pensions, and, as a rule, the 
least desirable of them all. But why should 
pensions be regarded with suspicion? I shall 
try to answer this question by relating three or 
four true stories of pension life. 

In Paris, not far to the south side of the 
Champs Ely sees, is a pension kept by " the widow 
of a distinguished officer." A few years ago a 
mother and daughter arrived at this pension 
direct from America. " The widow of the dis- 
tinguished officer " inspected these ladies and 
their belongings very carefully, and made up 
her mind to be very polite to them. But she 
was more than polite, she was kind and solici- 



129 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

tous, willing at all times to give them directions 
about tlie city, to accompany tliem, in fact, on 
siglit-seeing and shopping expeditions. 

In this way it was not long before she got a 
peep at their letter of credit, which was, as she 
had at first expected, for a good round sum. 

Soon after this discovery, Madame took the 
Americans, mother and daughter, entirely into 
her confidence, ?ind revealed to them the dis- 
tinguished person that she was, or rather the 
distinguished persons that her ancestors were. 
She gave them to understand also that this 
revelation was the very highest token of re- 
spect that she could possibly pay them, as she 
never had anything more to do with her guests 
than her position required. *' But," she added, 
"I was drawn to you, Madame and Mademoi- 
selle, from the first moment I saw you. You, 
Madame, have the unmistakable air of a grande 
dame, and the Mademoiselle is so cMc." 

She explained that many of the people whom 
she had known in " high life " had, of course, 
lost sight of her, now that she was compelled 
to support herself; but she still had a few 
good friends and true, whom misfortune could 
not drive away from her. These friends, of 
course, never met her guests, but she would be 



130 



PENSIONS. 

glad to make an exception in favor of Madame 
and Mademoiselle, and when some of her dis- 
tinguished friends made their next visit she 
would be most happy to present them. 

The American mother was very much flat- 
tered by this great honor, and the daughter 
was at least curious to see some of the real old 
French aristocracy. Madame, in discussing 
her friends, had been very liberal in the use of 
titles, which did not lessen the American girl's 
curiosity. 

The first members of the French aristocracy 
to drop in were Monsieur le Count Chenapan, 
and his cousin, Madame la Baronne Declasse. 

The Madame, in presenting the Americans, 
mother and daughter, said that they were her 
dear friends, and as she felt sure they were ac- 
customed to the best society in their own coun- 
try, she did not hesitate to present them to the 
members of the best French society. 

The Count did not seem to notice the daugh- 
ter, but devoted himself entirely to the mother, 
whilst his cousin, the Baronne, devoted herself 
to Mademoiselle. They did not remain long ; 
just long enough, in fact, to accomplish their 
purpose, which was to flatter the mother and 
daughter to the top of their bent. 



131 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

After they had gone, Madame gave a short 
sketch of each of them. The Count had been 
an officer in the army, but was obliged to re- 
sign on account of an affair he had with the 
young wife of his Colonel. So French, so very 
French, thought the American girl, and her in- 
terest became more keen. 

" How did it all end ? " she asked, in an ex- 
cited manner. But Madame hesitated ; she had 
intended to say nothing more and feared she 
had already violated the code of true friendshijp 
in mentioning at all the very sad romance of 
her friend the Count. 

"Please, Madame," pleaded the American 
girl, and Madame, not willing to refuse the 
charming Mademoiselle any reasonable thing, 
consented and told how the gallant and im- 
petuous young officer had eloped with the 
Colonel's wife, and that they lived lovingly to- 
gether until heo" death, which occurred five 
years ago. 

Since that time, since the sad ending of his 
first and only love, the Count had looked with 
the eye of love upon no other woman. The 
Madame here apologized for the Count's lack 
of attention to Mademoiselle. 

The mother had noticed the sad expression 



133 



PENSI0N8. 

of the Count, and commented favorably upou 
it. The Baroness had made an equally favor- 
able impression upon the daughter, for when 
she was not flattering her she was giving her 
little glimpses of high life in the French capi- 
tal. The Baronne was a widow, whose husband 
had been killed in the Tonquin War. She 
was almost thirty-two, somewhat made up, but 
withal not bad looking, and had, as Madame 
observed, the confident air of a woman of the 
world. 

The Count and the Baronne dropped in 
quite often during the next two or three weeks, 
and it always happened when Madame and 
her American friends were alone. I must ex- 
plain that the Count and his cousin did not 
come together after the first visit, so they were 
at liberty to praise each other behind each 
other's back — a very amiable thing to do. 

After the second visit the Count took some 
little notice of the daughter, and from that 
time did not try to disguise his admiration, 
which soon ripened into an all-consuming 
flame of love. The mother hesitated. The 
daughter was not in love, but was very much 
dazzled by the word Countess, which her lover 
was constantly dangling before her eyes. 



133 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE. 

The Count was very frank and explained that 
he was not a rich man. He had some estates 
in Southern France, but he would be honest 
and aclaiowledge that he did not have money 
to keep them up. For himself, he cared little 
or nothing for his title, his sole interest in it 
was for his future Countess. He could wish 
himself a thousand times more rich and honor- 
able, but to support the honor of his title it 
would be necessary to put his estates in order. 
He only asked that a definite sum be settled 
upon him before the wedding-, for that pur- 
pose. Ten thousand francs a year — two thou- 
sand dollars — would be quite enough for that 
purpose, and for himself he asked nothing. 

Madame was very much surprised when she 
heard that the Count had offered himself to 
Mademoiselle. She thought he was a con- 
firmed bachelor. She hesitated about giving 
advice on the matter, but she had an old 
family friend who had known her all her life ; 
she would call him in and get his counsel. He 
was a learned Judge, upon whose judgment the 
utmost confidence could be placed. 

The Judge came and discussed the matter 
with Madame and the American mother, but 
went away without giving an opinion. 

134 



When he came again he said that he had 
looked Tip the Count's record, and that he had 
found nothing against him excepting the un- 
fortunate affair already mentioned, and but 
for this affair he might now be holding high 
rank in the army. He had allowed his estates 
to fall into neglect, it was true, but a few thou- 
sand francs would put them all right again, 
and with his Countess at his side there was no 
reason w^hy he should not take the exalted 
place to which his rank entitled him in the 
aristocratic world of Paris. 

Madame said that she had only thought of 
the happiness and social success of her dear 
American friends, and these things being now 
assured, she would not, she could not, offer any 
further opposition to such a " brilliant alli- 
ance." And, to do her justice, she not only 
did not hinder this " brilliant alliance," but did 
everything in her power to advance and con- 
summate it ; so the marriage took place with 
all the ceremonies of the Roman ritual. 

It is, I am sure, quite unnecessary for me to 
add that the American girl did not become a 
French Countess, nor did she take an exalted 
position in Parisian society. Moreover, she 
never saw the Count's estates. The mother 



135 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

began an action for frand, but i^ never came 
into court. She could prove nothing ; Ma- 
dame was the only witness, and she could not 
say that the Count had ever made any serious 
claims, either to titles or estates. 

The Judge, whose wise advice Madame had 
sought, turned out to be the father of Monsieur 
le Count, and father and son were '^ Avocats,'' 
who picked up a living in any way they could, 
their only concern being to avoid a successful 
criminal prosecution. 

Madame la Baronne was, of course, the 
Count's mistress. The pension was a,nd is a 
matrimonial agency, and " Madame " receives 
commissions on all business done. And here 
my story ends. 

A FLOEENTINE EOMANCE AND TRAGEDY. 

There is, or was, a pension in Florence, which 
for several years advertised a " weekly dance " 
as its chief attraction, and one could plainly 
read between the lines of this advertisement, 
*' Handsome officers in uniform always in at- 
tendance." 

Italian officers are said to be the most famous 
"lady-killers," perhaps I had better say "girl- 

136 



PENSIONS. 

killers," in Europe. They do their deadly work 
almost entirely with their eyes. They are too 
lazy even to talk, if they could; but the truth is 
they could not talk if they would. One doesn't 
look for marked intelligence in an officer, but 
they are generally supplied with a small stock 
of local gossip. Not so the Italian officer. He 
swaggers and poses and looks ; and looks and 
poses and swaggers. These three words sum 
up his entire action and being. But it is 
enough, it serves his purpose as a " girl-killer." 

In the winter of '82, or thereabouts, an Amer- 
ican lady, with a daughter and niece, took up 
her residence in the "weekly dancing" pen- 
sion. These people were from a small New 
England town and had seen little or nothing of 
the world, so that these weekly dances with the 
gold-laced uniforms were to them very brilliant 
social functions. The girls were of a suscep- 
tible age and temperament, and it was not long 
before they were both sorely smitten. The 
daughter was too young to think of matri- 
mony, but the niece was of age, an orphan, 
and her own mistress. 

This fact was soon known among the officers, 
and they looked and swaggered accordingly. 
It was not long before one of the handsom- 



137 



AMEHIGANS IN EUROPE. 

est of them was noticed to pay special court 
to the niece. 

Now it was well known in Florence that this 
particular officer was looking about for an 
American girl with a dot. He had nothing, of 
course. He not only had no money, but he 
had no family. That is to say, he was not a 
gentleman, even in the European sense of that 
misused word. The affair had advanced to a 
critical stage before the Aunt seemed to be 
aware that the flirtation had become a serious 
matter. She then made arrangements for an 
immediate departure from Florence, hoping 
that a change of scene would bring about a 
change of heart. 

The niece made no complaint, but on the day 
before the time fixed for the departure she dis- 
appeared from the />e?^s^o?^ and was married to 
the handsome officer. She was of age, her 
own mistress, and what was done could not be 
undone. Her Aunt returned to America with- 
out her niece. This is the romance. 

The tragedy is now to follow. This man was 
too lazy even for the life of a soldier in time of 
peace, and, as soon as he got complete control 
of his wife's property, he left the army and be- 
came a cafS lounger. The property his wife 

138 



PENSIONS, 

brought him would seem yery small to an 
American, but it was a fortune to an Italian; 
enough, in fact, to keep this officer's father and 
mother and two or three brothers and sisters in 
idleness. 

After a certain sum had been settled on him- 
self, he placed the rest in his mother's hands, 
and his wife had to take her share with the 
other members of the family, and to receive her 
portion from the hands of the mother-in-law. 
She soon had to leave Florence for a home in 
the country, a few miles from Pisa, and the sor- 
rowful life this New England girl lived in this 
strange land, and among these strange people, 
can be imagined only by those who have seen 
the hard and dreary life that the Italian farmer 
lives. 

The house was situated at the base of Mont 
Pisano, a verdureless range of mountains, and 
there was nothing without or within it to re- 
lieve the bareness or break the chilliness of the 
cold graystones, of which all Italian houses 
are made. 

Fires were unknown ; carpets there were none. 
Wlien it was warm enough the family sat out- 
doors. When it was not, they sat in-doors 
around a large scaldino. 



Vi 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Think wliat sucli a life must have been to 
this New England girl, accustomed to a cheer- 
ful carpeted house, with roaring hearth-fires! 
The poor wife's husband lived in Florence and 
was seldom with her. She was thus left all 
alone with these people, with whom she had 
nothing in common. Only with the greatest 
difficulty could she understand what they said 
to her, and any efforts to carry on a conversa- 
tion was almost useless. She got on very little 
better with her husband. His reading was 
confined to a special column of the daily paj)er, 
and as to general information, he had none. 

One may get some idea of his intelligence 
when I say — I am telling a true story, remem- 
ber — that he was stationed for three or four 
years in Florence, and during all that time it 
never occurred to him to visit the " Uffizi " or 
''Pitti" Galleries. 

The mother and other members of the hus- 
band's family, who lived on his wife's money, 
looked upon her as a curiosity, and did not 
trouble themselves either to please or displease 
her. Of course, the poor creature could not 
stand this sort of life very long, and in less 
than two years after her romantic marriage 
she sickened and died of a broken heart. A 



140 



PEJsrsioj^s. 

few montlis before her death, an old friend of 
her mother's visited her, and persuaded her 
husband to let his wife try a change of air. 
She was taken to Switzerland and breathed out 
her sad, short life in Geneva, where her grave 
is now to be seen, with both her American and 
her Italian name inscribed in full upon her 
tombstone. 

There is a, pension in Rome which also adver- 
tises weekly dances, and where the same sort 
of romance and tragedy, as above set forth, may 
occur, and doubtlessly has occurred. If these 
pension keepers have sons, brothers, nephews, or 
cousins, they are always brought to the front 
and given the first chance and the best chance. 
This sort of thing is a universal custom of pen- 
sion keepers all over Europe. 

Let me relate a case in point, concerning 
which I speak with full knowledge of all the 
facts. There is a good pension in one of the 
most beautiful Italian cities, kept by two or 
three sisters with two or three nephews. The 
nephews have absolutely no means of sup- 
port, and no kind of position in the social 
world. 

This pension is patronized by a very good 
class of English people, who generally stay for 

141 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

the season. Once a week there is given '* une 
soiree musicale,'' which generally ends with a 
dance. The nephews are put into evening dress 
and always placed en evidence. They have the 
good looks and pleasant manners which seem 
to be the natural inheritance of all Italians, and 
have very little trouble in making themselves 
acceptable to fair English maidens. 

Two years ago, one of these nephews married 
an Australian lady, with the snug little income 
of three thousand dollars a year, and the gen- 
tleman may now be seen driving in the park 
with the airs of a duke. This Australian lady 
has a sister married to another penniless and 
positionless Italian, whom she met at the same 
pension. 

I have personal knowledge of scores of such 
marriages, in all parts of Europe, brought about 
in pensio7is, and generally, almost invariably, 
with the connivance — ^not to use a stronger 
word — of the pension keeper. 

Five years ago, a very intimate friend of mine 
was travelling in Sicily, and when at Taormina 
made the acquaintance, in a Hotel Pension, of 
two English ladies of high social position. One 
of these ladies confided to him the information 
that her friend— and cousin, I believe — was en- 



143 



g-agecl to be married to a Sicilian doctor, who 
was a resident of Taormina. 

She asked my friend, whose age and position 
justified her confidence, to advise her what to 
do. Her cousin was no longer young, and her 
personal charms were not such as to warrant a 
belief that the doctor was acting solely from the 
sentiment of pure love. The lady had a large 
fortune entirely within her own control, and was 
it not possible that this might account, to some 
extent at least, for the Sicilian's attachment ? 

My friend thought it might. But he was a 
man of the world, knew something about woman- 
kind, and was cautious in giving advice. One 
thing, however, he ventured to recommend, viz., 
that the wedding should take place in England, 
and that the money should be placed beyond 
the control of the husband. The marriage took 
place, but my friend's disinterested advice was 
not followed in either particular. 

There are many instances of Italian, German, 
and French doctors marrying their English 
and American patients ; but the world has lit- 
tle sympathy to waste on such women. 

There is a certain class of pensions which ap- 
peal to a certain class of customers, and may be 
known by the designation of *' free and easy." 



143 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

These are the pensions where flirtations of the 
most pronounced character are not only winked 
at, but openly encouraged. The best known 
Summer pension of this class that I now remem- 
ber is at one of the principal resorts of Switzer- 
land. It consists of a group of a half dozen or 
more houses within their own grounds, and tho 
grounds are very pretty and picturesquely rural. 
From June till October these houses are always 
full, with about an equal number of males and 
females, of almost all ages. 

This pension is a little community in itself, 
and possesses a dance hall and theatre of its 
own. There are, in fact, no pains spared for the 
amusement of the guests. The kind of flirta- 
tions for which this pension is particularly 
suited, and for which it is somewhat noted, sel- 
dom if ever results in marriage, but engage- 
ments lasting for the season are very com- 
mon. 

But if the pension keeper be a respectable, 
honest person, as is sometimes the case, one is 
still subject to various kinds of imposition from 
one's fellow-guests. Women, especially girls, 
are in constant danger of being imposed upon. 
There are numerous petty annoyances, which 
may not be mentioned here ; but I will give ono 



144 



PENSIOHS. 

or two examples of the very serious nature of 
some of these impositions. 

In the winter of 1890 there turned up in a 
pension at Mce an Englishman, who gave out 
that he was a medical man seeking a little 
change and rest. He was a very sociably dis- 
posed individual, and was soon on familiar 
terms with an American widow and her daugh- 
ter, the latter a girl of seventeen. The doctor 
took frequent walks with this pretty American 
girl, and occasionally bought her some "sweets." 

Once after partaking rather freely of the doc- 
tor's sweets, the young lady was taken with a 
sudden illness. The doctor was soon on hand, 
made a most unnecessary and indecent exami- 
nation and announced that it was a rather pain- 
ful illness, but that he could cure her at once, 
which he did by the use of some medicine which 
he always carried with him. He would, of 
course, accept no pay, and thus placed the 
mother and daughter under obligations to him. 
He soon won the confidence of the mother, 
and she entrusted her daughter with him, with- 
out any reservation, until she received a note 
from her daughter one evening simply stating 
that she loved the doctor and had eloped with 
him. The alarm was immediately given, and the 



145 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

runaways were overtaken in a day or too, when 
it turned out that the man was not a doctor at 
all. He was a husband, with a wife and several 
children, one of whom was actually with him at 
the time of the elopement. 

Late in the summer of 1890 a jolly party of 
Americans, men and women, were spending a 
few weeks at a Hotel Pension in Geneva. One 
evening", when they were amusing themselves in 
the cafe, they were joined by a good-looking 
Englishman. This addition did not quite suit 
the men, but the ladies seemed to be rather 
pleased than otherwise. The man pleaded lone- 
liness as an excuse for his boldness, and the 
ladies at once became sympathetic and were 
somewhat annoyed at the evident suspicions of 
the man by their friends. 

The Englishman was included in all their ex- 
cursions after this, until one day, at the races, 
this gentleman was suddenly taken away from 
the side of one of the most charming of the 
ladies by two police officers, with gyves upon 
his wrists. The handsome Englishman was a 
noted pickpocket and hotel thief. 



146 



XIV. 

AMEEICANS IN EOME. 

KoMA ! Eoma ! Citta Eterna ! 

The American colony in Rome was founded 
by artists — principally sculptors — of wliom 
Crawford was the first, and easily the greatest, 
and will I think always remain so. Had he 
lived, his reputation would have overshadowed 
that of all other American sculptors. But one's 
reputation may be stolen as well as one's purse ; 
and it is popularly believed that such an event 
took place in Eome upon the death of this great 
artist. However that may be, the theft, if 
theft there were, is now known, and reputations 
must hereafter stand upon their own legs — if 
they have any. 

In the early days of the American colony in 
Rome, the distinction of any one member of the 
artistic circle reflected upon all the other mem- 
bers ; and upon the death of one of their num- 
ber, whatever reputation he may have acquired 
descended to the survivors as a national inher- 



it? 



AMERIGANS IN EUROPE, 

itance. So the tlieft, of which I have spoken, 
was perhaps fictitious as regards any real guilt 
of purpose; and maybe more properly called 
an inheritance — whether lawful or unlawful, I 
shall not take upon myself to decide. 

The best — I mean the widest known — living 
sculptor in Eome is the hero, or one of the 
heroes, of Hawthorne's romaace, "The Mar- 
ble Faun ; " or, as the English " pirate pub- 
lisher" stupidly calls it, *' The Transformation." 
The death of Crawford, and the publication of 
Hawthorne's story, cleared the field of all 
dangerous rivals, and the author of " Cleo- 
patra" came at once to the fore as the most 
conspicuous American artist in Europe. Every- 
thing was in his favor, and all things seemed to 
point to a most distinguished career. Emer- 
son took him up, and predicted his brilliant 
future. The poets Browning and Lord Hough- 
ton were his friends and patrons. He made 
a portrait - bust of the poetess, Mrs. Barrett 
Browning, and through these names the Eng- 
lish public was soon won. 

The sculptor, in himself and family, apart 
from his art, was a person of consequence. His 
father was one of the most eminent judges in 
America. The son has substituted "Justice" 



148 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

for ''Judge," in conformity to English usage. 
The son had taken a university degree, some- 
thing very uncommon in the art world. He 
was also educated in the law, and had actually 
written an able book upon one branch of this 
subject, before he became a sculptor. He was, 
and is, a brilliant conversationalist, a man of 
letters, and a poet. 

But — oh, the cruelty of these "buts!" — he 
has not fulfilled the great promise of his be- 
ginnings, nor the prophecies of his friends and 
patrons. He has tried to do everything, and 
he has done what he tried to do with more or 
less distinction, but not with first-rate ability. 
" Cleopatra," which was almost his first, is per- 
haps his best work. He is very clever and 
remarkably versatile, but he is not a great 
sculptor. 

Had he given himself completely to Art or 
to Literature, he might have won a great name 
in either. And had he remained an American 
in character and sympathy, he would, I think, 
have succeeded in acquiring greater fame, and 
a much greater fortune. As it is, however, 
what with his art and his pen, he has done 
very well indeed as regards the things that 
perish. His salon — or rather his wife's — is one 



149 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

of the largest and most brilliant of all the 
American salons in Eome. This gentleman is 
another of those *' Americans in Europe " who 
can see nothing great or good in Lincoln or 
Grant. His constant attitude towards his na- 
tive land is that of a fault-finder; and the man 
who can see nothing to praise and everything 
to condemn in the land that gave him birth is 
not, as we all know, the most delectable crea- 
ture on the face of the earth. Had this dis- 
tinguished man been made United States 
Minister to Italy, it is just possible that he 
would now look with a kindlier eye upon his 
benighted country. 

Of this sculptor's contemporaries, " Kogers " 
and " Ives " are the oldest. These men have 
worked long, and worked well, if we may trust 
public judgment. Of the younger sculptors 
Eeinhart was the most brilliant ; but he died 
before he achieved any very notable work. 
Simmons, the younger Story, and Ezekiel, are 
all more or less clever. The younger Story 
has a very rare conception of the beautiful, and 
has good powers of expression. Simmons 
works hard and conscientiously, and does some 
good things. It has been said that the Jews 
could not, if they would, break the second corn- 



ISO 



AMERICANS IN ROME, 

mandment ; for the reason that they have never 
been able to make to themselves any graven 
image. That there have been very few workers 
in clay amongst the seed of Israel is true. Mr. 
Ezekiel is therefore an exception — but not 
much of a one. He has done one or two artis- 
tic things; but his art, like himself, is too the- 
atrical. 

There is, or rather was, an American lady 
sculptor in Eome. Her reputation went up 
like a rocket and has come down in the prover- 
bial manner, — that is, if we place reliance on 
what one hears from this lady's dear friends in 
Home. At any rate, I believe there is no mis- 
take about the report that she has abandoned 
Art for some patent-right mechanical money- 
making contrivance. Sic transit gloria ! 

AMERICAN PAINTERS IN ROME. 

There are very few American painters left in 
Eome. Mr. Terry, the oldest if not the best, 
has ceased to be fashionable; but he could 
give the younger men of the newer schools 
many a valuable tip, if they had the modesty 
and good sense to consult him. He inherited 
Crawford's widow, as the sculptor inherited his 
reputation ; and this beautiful inheritance has 



151 



AMERICANS IN BTJBOPE. 

been to him a constant source of peace and joy; 
greater and more glorious, I should say, than 
the thing called reputation could have brought 
to him. Haseltine has a good eye for color. 
Yedder, like Whistler, is peculiar, but an artist 
all the same. 

The late "W. A. Shade was little known in 
the American colony, but his friends and ad- 
mirers place him high in the Art world. 

AMERICAN MINISTERS TO ROME. 

The first American Minister to United Italy 
was a scholar and a gentleman ; and this is 
about the best thing that can be said of any- 
body. Mr. Marsh was very acceptable to the 
Italian Court, and, I believe, could almost be 
called an intimate friend of the royal family. 
But he did not furnish much amusement for the 
American colony, and it was glad to get rid of 
him. He was followed by a many times mill- 
ionaire, and then the fun began. It began, 
strange to say, over a mere matter of etiquette, 
and in which only Americans were involved. 
It may seem odd, perhaps, that these simple 
democratic people should be disturbed by such 
matters. Such, however, was the fact. 

It came about in this way. It is the duty of 



152 



AMEBIGANS IN ROME. 

all diplomats accredited to tlie king to pay 
their respects first to the royal family, and 
then to all the members of the official, or im- 
mediate Court circle. This the new Minister 
did in due form and order. Now, amongst the 
members of the inner Court circle is an Amer- 
ican lady who wears, with rare dignity and 
grace, the mask of Princess. This Princess is 
very lovely, and stands very near Her Majesty 
the Queen, in person as well as in position. 
The Minister, of course, called upon the lady 
and her husband. But it so happened that the 
Princess lived with her American mother, and 
in her mother's palace ; and the Minister knew, 
none better than he, these domestic facts. Yet, 
notwithstanding this knowledge, in calling 
upon the Prince and Princess, he left no card 
or other token of his respect for his compa- 
triots and townspeople, the father and mother 
of the Princess. 

And now we shall see what a great matter 
a little fire kindleth. There was hurrying to 
and fro in the American colony ; and fear and 
anxiety were written on almost every face. 
What was to be done to prevent an open 
rupture between an American millionaire and 
an American Princess? It was a tra^^ical 



153 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

case. Who could take sides against a million- 
aire? Who could take sides against a Prin- 
cess % But it had to be done ; and for a while 
it seemed that this simple democratic colony- 
would be rent asunder by the tremendous 
question as to whether the American Minister 
had left the proper number of cards at a cer- 
tain address. There was some talk of submit- 
ting the matter to the authorities at Washing- 
ton. But better counsels prevailed, and the 
colony at last decided almost unanimously 
that " whereas the Minister is a very rich man, 
lives in a great palace, and possesses the dis- 
position, as w^l as the unbounded means, for 
generous hospitality ; therefore we, the mem- 
bers of the American colony in Bome, decide 
that the aforesaid Minister did, at the time and 
place (palace) in question, deliver the proper 
number of pasteboards (with his name and 
title thereon) ; no less and no more than the 
exigencies of the case required." 

This resolution was brought about, as I 
understand, by the action of the American 
rector, who is, at all times, a conspicuous 
figure in Eome. It was a very delicate and 
embarrassing duty for this gentleman to per- 
form, as both the Princess and the Minister 



154 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

were members of his flock. A less brave and 
iudependent character would doubtless have 
elected to keep out of the dispute ; claiming 
that the functions of his office were spiritual, 
and did not oblige him to settle questions of 
court etiquette. But the Minister did not 
remain wholly inactive in his own defence. 
He referred the matter to the Italian State De- 
partment in an elaborate letter, written in ex- 
cellent French, and by his own Ministerial 
hand. The Italian Government, as is the 
merry nature of the race, laughed loud and 
long over this letter ; but refused to act as 
umpire in settling the social disputes of the 
American colony in Eome. Like everything 
else in this world, the social tempest at last 
blew itself out. There were som^e wounds 
left, however, that have not quite healed to 
this day ; but they are not of a very painful 
nature. 

The millionaire Minister has returned long 
since to Gotham, but the Princess and her 
mother remain in the Eternal City, while the 
bold rector was for some time rather cruelly 
neglected by these quondam supporters of his 
church. This breach is, however, now, to all 
appearance, healed. The Princess and her 



155 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

husband visited America in tlie year 1878 ; so 
also did tlie rector. And did not the rector 
remain in America a month or more, in order 
to accompany the princely party to Eome ? 
And did he not devote himself exclusively to 
the Princess on board the steamer, taking* com- 
plete charge of her wraps and things ? 

THE JEFFERSONIAN MINISTEB. 

The next American Minister to Eome seemed 
to be all that the Democratic mind could wish 
for, but, oddly enough, he did not rejoice the 
heart of the American colony. He began with 
Jeffersonian simplicity. He took a very modest 
apartment in a back street, and performed the 
duties, both of host and servant, in a most 
democratic fashion; and when he took his 
drives abroad, he did not scorn a box seat by 
the side of the Eoman jeliu. This Minister 
was consistent, carried his severe simplicity 
into all matters, and seemed disposed to create 
a general revolution against social etiquette 
— ^the very thing his predecessor worshipped ! 
But he didn't ; nor did he Americanize to any 
extent the Eternal City. 

There are various ways in which Americans 
in Eome try to explain the failure of this 



156 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

worthy man with worthy motives. First of 
all, they said that he was not an American 
at all, but a German emigrant. They also 
said that when he was presented to Her 
Majesty the Queen, he addressed Her Eoyal 
Highness in German. This surprised and 
annoyed the Queen, who replied in most ex- 
cellent English, saying that she preferred to 
speak to the American Minister in English, 
if he did not choose to speak her own lan- 
guage. But this ex-German, ex-priest, and 
ex-judge, with his German birth and educa- 
tion, and his American citizenship, aspired to 
represent both America and Germany, and 
ended by representing neither, and offending 
both. The German colony was at first de- 
lighted with the idea of having two represen- 
tatives in Eome ; and it took up the American 
Minister with great haste and enthusiasm — 
and put him down again with equal fervor 
and despatch. 

It happened in this way. A German club, 
or something of that sort, gave the American 
Minister a reception, at which he made a 
long speech. In the first half of his speech 
he glorified Germany, and belittled America. 
In the second half he belittled Germany, 



157 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

and glorified America, and wound up with 
the most unqualified praise of himself and 
his opinions. This gentleman had the rarest 
gift of saying the wrong thing to the wrong 
person I ever knew. He would manage, in 
five minutes' time, in a company of all na- 
tionalities, to say something displeasing to 
everybody present. He says all these dis- 
agreeable things in what he, no doubt, con- 
siders a spirit of pleasantry ; but his wit and 
humor are not always appreciated. He talks 
incessantly, without rhyme or reason — one 
story following another without any interval, 
all of which have but one theme — the speaker. 
In all seriousness, I do not believe. that a 
man less fitted for such a post could be found 
in the wide territory of the American Repub- 
lic. It was not only a colossal mistake in 
the United States Government to send such 
a man to occupy such a post, but it was also a 
cruel shame to expose so good and so learned 
a man to the ridicule of his inferiors; for he 
was superior in real character and learning 
to all his diplomatic colleagues, as well as 
to his German and American compatriots — 
who snubbed him so unmercifully. Moreover, 
he was, and is, a kind, generous-hearted man 

158 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

who loves America as truly as any one of 
us. He is also a learned man, and has written 
some books which give evidence of an ample 
scholarship. I know of no one to whom I 
would sooner appeal for help and charity, 
were I in need of them, than to this same 
ex-Minister to Eome. Many of the stories 
told about him were utterly false, and I think 
I can fairly say all of them were exaggerated. 
Take, for example, the story of 



The story goes that, at a dinner party given 
in his honor, the Minister and his daughter 
abruptly left the table and the house upon 
the entrance of a certain Vatican ecclesiastic. 
TThe truth, in brief, is, that the American 
Minister accepted an invitation to dine with 
an American lady, in the most informal and 
quiet way, and with the special and distinct 
understanding that he was to meet no repre- 
sentative of the faction unfriendly to the Ital- 
ian Government. This precaution and respect 
he thought due to the Court to which he was 
accredited, and to which, as yet, he had not 
been presented. But the lady was determined 
to make as much social capital out of the 

159 



AMEBI0AN8 IN EUROPE, 

new Minister as possible ; and slie, therefore, 
invited several prominent persons — Americans 
and Italians — to meet tlie American Minis- 
ter. 

On arriving at the house, the Minister was 
met in the lobby by his hostess and by a 
well-known American banker, who lives in 
Eome, and was informed that a very conspic- 
uous Vatican dignitary and anti-royalist had 
unexpectedly turned up, and was at that mo- 
ment in the drawing-room. The Minister 
declined to meet the priest, and returned to 
his home without having entered either draw- 
ing-room or dining-room. This showed, I 
grant, rather scant consideration for the lady 
who gave the dinner; but the Minister was, 
perhaps, right. The Americans in Eome re- 
mained in sackcloth and ashes during this 
gentleman's term of office ; for they had not 
only to endure the blunders of the Minister, 
but the worse than blunders of the Secretary 
of Legation, who was everything that he 
should not, and nothing that he should, have 
been. To make bad worse, the Minister and 
the Secretary quarrelled, and became the most 
violent and open enemies, taking every op- 
portunity of annoying and discrediting each 

ICO 



AMETtlOANS IN ROME. 

other. Thus things were altogether in a 
pretty pickle. What special and enduring 
advantage the United States Government de- 
rived from these two diplomats, I have not 
been able to discern. 



THE LATE MINISTEE IN ROME. 

The late American Minister to Eome was not a 
linguist, and makes no claim to the character of 
a diplomat, but his secretary was able and will- 
ing to supply these deficiencies. This particu- 
lar secretary is " decidedly some pumpkins," if 
you please. He was educated " abroad," speaks 
English with a French accent — so his lady ad- 
mirers observe with great delight — and is al- 
together "too awfully swell." As a social 
grandee he will run the Secretary of Legation 
in London a close race for the first place. And, 
just here, I wish to remark, and my language 
shall be plain, that of all the pretentious empty- 
headed noodles this old round world has ever 
known, commend me to the " secretaries " and 
" attaches " who are pinned on to the social 
skirts of the Embassies and Legations at Euro- 
pean capitals. I have never seen one who made 
the slightest approach to being a man. I am 



161 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

quite willing to admit that this small diplo- 
matic fly alv/ays draws me. 

And now, having vented my spleen upon these 
harmless insects, I return to the American Min- 
ister at Kome in a calmer and, I trust, more ju- 
dicial frame of mind. Ex-Governor Porter of 
Indiana is a good type of an unpretentious 
American gentleman. He showed consx)icuous 
ability in his own State, and in the United 
States, for that matter, as a lawyer and poli- 
tician of the best class, and was one of the most 
effective platform orators during a late Presi- 
dential camioaign. He is a gentleman of the 
old school ; very cordial and very genial, but 
very dignified ; and not, by any means, the sort 
of man that you would think of patting on the 
back or puncliing familiarly in the ribs. 

But all the good qualities of this genuine 
American were hidden under the diplomatic 
bushel. How such a man could accept siich a 
post, I cannot imagine. I am told that he 
might have exchanged it whenever he liked 
for the iDOsition of Senator. If this be true, I 
feel sure that the place that once knew him will 
know him no more. He was for several years 
the partner-in-law of an ex-President ; and it is 
just possible, from what I heard, that the ex- 



163 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

President preferred to have his old friend 
and partner beyond the reach of conven- 
tions and such things. Governor Porter was 
much liked in Eome, and I heard nothing but 
good of him and his amiable daughter. 

TITLED AMERICANS IN EOME. 

Of the titled Americans in Eome I have said 
something, and now have something more to 
say. The Princess, around whom the " card 
war" waged so furiously, is, in her own and 
proper person, one of the most amiable and 
justly popular ladies in the Eternal City. She 
is an only daughter of a wealthy New Yorker, 
and was brought, when very young, to Europe 
by her parents. She was pretty, had a decid- 
edly nice " dot," and her parents had the pick 
and choice of not a few of the Erench and Italian 
titles. They chose, however, to reside in Italy, 
and thought it more convenient to purchase a 
title on the spot. But they drew the line at 
the Vatican, and refused, point blank, to con- 
sider Papal titles or to have any dealings what- 
ever in that market. 

These wise parents saw — what few Ameri- 
cans have sense enough to see — that the Vati- 
can titled wares are at a decided discount, and 



163 



AMERIGANS IN EUROPE. 

must in time altogether disappear from the 
market. In other and plainer words, these 
practical American parents saw clearly that the 
Papacy was a thing of the past, and they would 
have none of it. Italian unity, on the other 
hand, they saw to be a thing of the present, 
and of the future, and, as I believe, or at least 
hope, a very brilliant future. 

These level-headed Americans kept their 
wits about them, and saw, and read, and pon- 
dered the signs of the times. They, therefore, 
determined to ally themselves and tkeir house 
with the King and progressive Italy, rather 
than with the Pope and the moribund E. C. 
Hierarchy. They fixed upon a Neapolitan 
prince, and he has turned out to be a very nice 
fellow indeed, and is almost, if not quite, as 
amiable and popular as his wife. They have 
lived, and are living, a peaceful and happy life 
under the roof of the American mother. Two 
children have been born to them. The eldest, 
a son, is a soldier. The daughter has her 
mother's beautiful color, and her father's dark 
eyes, and is just now 

*' Standing with reluctant feet 
Where the brook and river Hieet, 
Womanhood and childhood fleet." 



164 



AMERICANS IN ROME, 

The Prince lias, or had, an elder brother, who 
gave the American parents some uneasiness 
concerning the validity of their daughter's 
title of Princess. This elder brother married, 
and with hardly sufficient means to support his 
princely station. He therefore agreed, for a 
substantial consideration, to resign in favor 
of his younger brother. This was arranged, 
and the marriage took place. But after the 
marriage, this noble-minded prince thought to 
squeeze another hundred thousand dollars or 
so out of the Americans by resuming, or seek- 
ing to resume, his princely character and title. 
But the Americans were not to be " done " in 
that unprincely fashion. They showed fight, 
and took the matter into the law courts. In 
the meantime, however, the King conferred 
high rank upon his Neapolitan favorite, 
which perfectly satisfied the democratic Ameri- 
can parents, and they were happy once more. 
It is a pleasure to have to relate, that, in the 
course of time, the Italian Courts decided that 
the abdication of the elder brother in favor 
of the younger was legal and final ; so that 
there are now titles enough and to spare in 
this democratic family. 



165 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 



THE AMERICAN COUNTESS. 

Next to the New York princess, in rank and 
royal favor, stands a New York countess. 
This lady's husband is first chamberlain, I be- 
lieve, to His Eoyal Highness, the King ; in 
other words, the Master of Royal Ceremonies. 
This Count has a very handsome person, as be- 
comes a man of his position ; is very popular, 
very good-natured, and very fond of the ladies. 
The last mentioned amiable trait of character 
gets the upper hand now and then of the gal- 
lant Count, but of the Countess never ; and she 
is always able to pull up her too impetuous 
husband, when she thinks it necessary to take 
the reins in her own cool hands. 

The Countess is said to be unlike her com- 
patriots, in one respect at least. She thinks 
more of American money than of European 
titles. The great friendship which a late 
American banker, in London, had for this lady 
was known to all. She has recently taken up 
an American lady — a very wealthy lady, so they 
say — whose dollars aid her in the entertain- 
ment of the impecunious Eoman aristocracy. 
However this may be, I am quite certain that 



166 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 



this very good looking, and very clever, South- 
ern lady gets more fun for her money than any 



ern laay gets more lur 
other person in Rome. 



A LOVEE OF TITLES. 

Next to the possession of titles comes the 
love of titles, and of this large class the wife of 
the American sculptor is, by far, the most dis- 
tinguished. Many and curious are the stories 
related which illustrate this lady's faithful 
worship of " My Lords " temporal. But she has 
the quick and well-trained eye of a genuine 
connoisseur, and does not waste her time or 
tea on pseudo-'FuenGh., German, and Italian 
titles. She infinitely prefers the English brand 
of nobility to any other in the market, and con- 
fines her dealings almost exclusively to that 
variety. 

She knows that the English title can be easily 
verified, and generally stands for some real dis- 
tinction, of both wealth and station ; and she 
knows, as well, on the other hand, that a 
continental title, even if genuine, which one 
can never be certain of, has come to signify, is 
the equivalent term, in fact, for a penniless 
French, German, or Italian adventurer. Again, 
the value of an English title is heightened by 



167 



AMEBIGAN8 IN EUROPE. 

the fact that it is kept well in hand, and is not 
allowed to spread itself over a whole generation 
of people, with the most attenuated ties of con- 
sanguinity. 

In England the nephew or grandson of a 
Duke is usually Mr.; whilst the nephew or 
grandson of a continental Duke is a " Prince," 
if you please ; and all the cousins, to the hun- 
dredth or thousandth degree, are Marquises, or 
Counts, or what you like. Nine-tenths of the 
continental " brands " which my fair country- 
women purchase — and at good prices, too — are 
spurious, and the other tenth worthless. 

If the rich American girl must have a title 
and " won't be happy till she gets it," I recom- 
mend her to deal almost exclusively in the 
British market. The British handle to names 
comes a bit high, I know ; but it is undoubtedly 
a much superior article, and well worth the dif- 
ference in price — I speak of the title, and not 
of the man who goes with it ; for the latter, not 
infrequently, is as inferior an article as is to be 
found anywhere on this planet. 

But to go back to the lady lover of titles. 
Whilst she does not object to undoubted Ital- 
ian titles, she prefers to cultivate the English 
variety, and has done so with very great suc- 



1G8 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

cess. During the last twenty -five years there 
have been few Lords and Ladies who have vis- 
ited the Eternal City without having been seen 
in this lady's salon. She sometimes makes 
mistakes — who does not ?— surrounded, as this 
lady is, by all degrees of titles is it any wonder 
that she should get them mixed now and then, 
or make little slips, such as addressing an Eng- 
lish Eoyal Princess as " my dear Marchioness." 
This American lady, like her distinguished 
husband, the sculptor, is not partial to her own 
country people, unless, perchance, they are 
very rich, with money to spend on works of 
the sculptor's art. 

At a reception once given by the American 
Minister, Mr. Marsh, to General Grant, the wife 
of the American sculptor was the only lady 
who did not rise on the entrance of General and 
Mrs. Grant ; and of this conduct she boasted 
afterward. But let us consider this incident 
for one moment. Who was General Grant ? 
A private American citizen, received by all the 
nations of the world with more honor, perhaps, 
than any person had ever been received in the 
history of the world. And who was the lady 
who made herself so conspicuous by her rude- 
ness ? A woman whose mind was evidently too 



169 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

full of '' My Lords " and " My Ladies" to enable 
her to recognize a supremely great man. We 
can only pity and forgive. 

This grand dame's only daughter married an 
Italian, strange to say, without a title, but with 
a most illustrious Tuscan name. This gentle- 
man belongs to the Court circle ; is in great 
favor with the king, and could, if he would, be 
made a Count or something for the mere ask- 
ing. But he has too much sense to cover up 
a good and honorable name under the dubi- 
ous outward badge of nobility. For this real 
Italian gentleman knows that, in these days, 
such things as titles of nobility are decidedly 
below par, whilst a truly good name is always 
at a premium. 

There are a number of other titled American 
ladies in Rome, but I now call to mind no one 
of special interest, save, perhaps, a certain Mar- 
chesa, who has the proud and exceptional dis- 
tinction of winning her title by her personal 
charms, and without the aid of the almighty 
dollar. This beautiful and most amiable lady 
was very ill for a year or more, and her friends 
despaired of her life ; but she is now, I am happy 
to say, restored to health. The daughter of the 
Silver Queen, who bought her way into an old 

ITO 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

Italian family of very high rank, is not very 
conspicuous, for some reason or other, in Eoman 
society. 

I had almost forgotten to mention the New 
York princess, whose ancestors on her moth- 
er's side were honest tobacco merchants, but 
who has, unfortunately, as I think, allied her- 
self with a family made famous, or infamous, 
as you please, by the semi-mythical story of 
" Beatrice Cenci." 

THE BALTIMOKE LADY. 

During the season of '89-90 a certain Balti- 
more lady arrived in Bome with a daughter and 
a purse. She was taken up at once by the 
American Countess who values dollars above 
titles, and in an amazingly short time the Bal- 
timore lady had " painted the town red." This 
lady is good-looking, bright, and very rich, 
and, let us hope, that having had her Boman 
fling, she will now shake the dust of the Eter- 
nal City, with its eternal adventures, from off 
her golden slippers, and return with her daugh- 
ter to "the land of the free and the home 
of the brave." But it has been whispered 
recently that this lady's only remaining daugh- 
ter thinks of entering the Boman Catholic 



171 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Church. I believe the report to be false. 
Eome has also the great honor of being the 
place of residence of the only American who 
has ever married a British lady of title. But 
this title, I hear, is causing some heart-burn- 
ings, for the European courts will not recog- 
nize a title of nobility in the wife of an Ameri- 
can citizen. This is a truly sad state of things, 
but I think I can assure my conspicuous com- 
patriot that he has the profound sympathy of 
the whole American nation. 



THE HOLY BOMAN FEVER. 

There is a disease in Eome almost, if not 
quite, as fatal to American women as the title- 
complaint, viz., the "Holy Roman Fever." The 
title-complaint, for the most part, attacks the 
young, the pretty, and the rich, whilst the Holy 
Roman Fever attacks all sorts and conditions 
of women — seldom, if ever, men. The American 
man may be inferior, as everybody says he is, 
to his sisters and his cousins and his aunts ; 
in the languages, in art, in general culture and 
that ; but he is seldom, if ever, an unmitigated, 
hopeless fool, and can't be drawn by the old 
and faded properties of the Vatican comedy. 



173 



AMERIOANS IN ROME, 

This thing was " played out " long ago, and ho 
has native gumption enough to see and fully 
understand that historical fact. He will, to be 
sure, go about with his impressionable female 
relatives and witness the "lovely services.'* 
He will procure tickets of his bankers to see 
His Holiness. He will go to see the heads of 
St. Peter and St. Paul ; the true cradle of the 
Christ ; the chains which bound St. Peter when 
he was in Kome (if he were ever in Eome). Ho 
can see what is to be seen and hear what is to 
be heard ; but, however he may be exposed to 
the damp and the mould of fraudulent relics, 
and to the altogether sickly atmosphere of tho 
Holy Church and her Holy Priests, he seldom 
catches the Holy Roman Fever ; and he leaves 
with a feeling of great relief, heartily glad to 
get away from the Eternal City, with its ever- 
lasting fraud and falsehood, trickery and cor- 
ruption, which established, and tries to per- 
petuate, the Roman Church. 

After being in Rome for a winter, and having 
visited the places which " Hare " and the rest 
of the old ladies rave about, one almost feels 
one's self a party to these silly frauds. But look 
at the Vatican, with its divine claims of infalli- 
bility, and then at Rom© and Italy ; at the 



173 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

moral and spiritual results of a thousand years 
and more of this infallibility ; and you will be 
convinced. And if by chance, during your visit 
to Rome and Florence, you have read Benvenuto 
Cellini, Machiavelli, or any other book giving 
an honest account of such beauties as Alexan- 
der YI., Clement YII., Paul III.— I take this 
batch of worthies as they happen to stand to- 
gether — if, I say, in addition to your own ob- 
servation and your own American gumption, 
you should read a little true history, then you 
will not only turn away from Rome with con- 
tempt, but with, it may be, a burning indigna- 
tion at the emptiness of her pretence and the 
foulness of her real character — that is, if you 
think it worth the trouble to treat it seriously. 
I am, of course, speaking to men of sense. 
Now, women (bless them !) only see things in 
spots and patches, and they seldom look be- 
neath the surface, being quite content with the 
outward show, whatever it may pretend to be. 
They either have not the power or the dis- 
position to connect things according to their 
natural and vital relations. They are said to 
be without the faculty of ratiocination ; and 
then — and this to their very great credit — they 
are certainly more credulous than their brothers, 



174 



AMEBIGAN8 IN ROME, 

especially in matters of sentiment. But there 
is such a thing- as a false sentiment, is there 
not? And the sentiment which goes out to 
false relics, false history, and false holiness, is 
not the highest expression, either of the poeti- 
cal or of the spiritual life. 

A CERTAIN NOTABLE AMERICAN AUTHOR. 

But there have been one or two male victims 
of this Holy Eoman Fever in the American col- 
ony, and a celebrated American-Italian author 
is perhaps the most notable one. He was born 
in Eome, and is the son, as we all know, of an 
eminent American sculptor. Our author was 
educated in Eome, America, England, and Ger- 
many, and has picked up a good deal of infor- 
mation of one sort or another, as his numer- 
ous books give evidence. That he has never 
studied anything profoundly, or thought seri- 
ously on any great subject, his books give equal 
testimony. One thing may be said, however, 
without qualification — he is an exceptionally 
clever linguist. 

The story of this novelist's reputation and 
brilliant career is perhaps worth telling. He 
had been given all the educational advantages 
that the four above-mentioned nations could 



175 



AMEIITGANS IN EUROPE. 

furnish him, and at the age of thirty years, or 
thereabout, he found himself without money, 
without a profession, or even an occupation. His 
mother had lost her fortune, or the greater part 
of it, and was unable to support any longer her 
*' white elephant," as she called her handsome 
and athletic son. He was thus forced to seek 
employment, and the future author worked for 
a while as clerk in the office of the United 
States Consulate in Eome. I have even heard 
it said that he thought at one time of enlisting 
as a common soldier. However this may be, 
his unusual knowledge of languages suggested 
to him at last the profession of a teacher, and a 
teacher he decided to be. He bought a San- 
skrit Grammar and spent one summer in its 
study among the Alban Mountains. 

Having mastered his subject, he determined 
to go to America and seek a professorship. Be- 
fore this time, however, he had been to India as 
the editor or assistant editor of a weekly Eng- 
lish journal, and it was in India that he met 
the individual who furnished him the material 
of his chief story. On his way to America he 
told the story to his uncle — the famous Uncle 
Sam — who knew this world as well as the 
next one, and saw at once that his handsome 



176 



AMERICANS IN ROME, 

nephew had something to say that the world 
would be glad to hear. On reaching New York, 
he (the uncle) compelled the nephew to sit down 
at once and write out the story just as he had 
told it. This was done in two or three weeks, 
and our author awoke one fine morning to find 
himself famous. 

But how did he happen to get the Holy Eo- 
man Fever ? Well, this is not the least strange 
incident in the rather strange history of this 
popular writer. It sometimes happens, so the 
doctors say, that one may contract a fever 
which will remain undeveloped in the system 
for weeks and months, and it maj^ be years, and 
then suddenly break out, at a time and in a 
place where and when it is least suspected. 
This was true in our author's case. He had 
been born in Eome, and had been exposed from 
infancy to the foul atmosphere of this disease 
of the mind, but had never suffered a day's ill- 
ness, so far as was known, until he went to In- 
dia ; and it was there, strange to say, that he 
succumbed to the complaint, which doubtless 
had been in his system for years without any 
of his friends ever suspecting it. He has sense 
enough to see the absurdity of the thing now, 
and he never could have been overcome by this 



177 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

disorder had he remained in Rome, face to face 
with the fraud and corruption of the Holy- 
Roman Church. The words " fraud " and " cor- 
rui^fcion" are, I believe, interpolations upon the 
original text; but they do not, I think, very 
seriously misrepresent the state of this gentle- 
man's real mind. He has, however, stuck to 
his guns with a great deal of heroism, and 
tries, in a fictitious way, to bolster up what 
Macaulay termed "an old and august super- 
stition." 

He says, or has said, so much about the Church 
and her priests in his books as to awaken in 
some minds a suspicion of his pen being subsi- 
dized. But this is wholly groundless. He is 
simply trying to write himself into a belief of 
something wholly unbelievable, and, methinks, 
he protests too much to be sincere. Some of 
his books have been rather heavily handicapped 
by that sort of thing, and the sooner he real- 
izes this fact the better for his reputation and 
the sale of his books. For an author who tries 
to belittle Garibaldi and the work he did, and 
to glorify Cardinal Antonelli, is surely par- 
ti-colored and wholly out of joint with the 
times, and discounts enormously his own judg- 
ment and common sense. Our author tells 



178 



AMERICANS IN ROME, 

some very good stories ; he knows something 
about Italian life and character ; but his air of 
exclusive knowledge on these subjects causes 
him to make many an awkward blunder. 

THE MAN WITH THE LIBEAEY. 

There is another American of the male gen- 
der who has also succumbed to the religious ma- 
laria of Rome. This is the man with the library, 
who lives in an old palace near the Yatican. This 
gentleman is of New England birth ; was edu- 
cated at Harvard, and brought up in the faith 
— if faith it may be called — of the Unitarian 
sect. He started out in life as a New York law- 
yer, but his marriage with a rich Philadelphia 
widow relieved him from the drudgery of a pro- 
fessional life and set his pen free to follow the 
leadings of the "muse." But the muse has not 
been always kind, and has led this poet's pen 
through some very dry and barren fields. But 
the true glory of this man is to be found in his 
library. There he sits — or used to sit — sur- 
rounded by the greatest number of the best 
bound volumes to be seen in any private library 
in Rome, and the library room is as splendid 
as the books and their bindings. 



179 



AMEBIGANS IN EUROPE. 

The poet has himself a magisterial air and 
manner well becoming his library. His palace 
and his library are both the material and the 
spiritual outposts of the Vatican ; the last 
stages in the journey from Christianity to Pa- 
ganism — I mean, Eomanism. The mere sight of 
this great man, seated in his spacious library, 
is quite enough to do the business for most 
of his impressionable countrywomen. But 
if anything else should be needed, the flut- 
ter of a Monsignore's petticoat, or the splen- 
dor of a Cardinal's cap, one or other of which 
is always in attendance, ends the matter; and 
the big toe of His Holiness is adoringly kissed 
as a token of the absolute surrender — of a fool 
to a fraud. By fraud I mean, of course, the in- 
fallible pretensions of the Pontiff, and not his 
personal character. 

Now and then, however, the game escapes 
their wily snares. For example, a very short 
time since two travellers arrived at this outpost 
seeking rest. They were priests of the English 
Catholic Church ; but called themselves Cowley 
Brothers, or Fathers. The one was Father Eiv- 
ington, the other Father Maturin. Father Kiv- 
ington found what he sought and passed on to 
the Vatican. But Father Maturin was not sat- 



180 



AMEBIGAN8 IN ROME. 

isfied and turned him back again to the beg- 
garly elements of the English Church. 

This was a sore disappointment both to the 
man in his library and the Pope in the Yatican ; 
for I happen to know that they counted so surely 
upon this victim that they arranged an apart- 
ment, not only for his temporary lodgment in 
the palace of the poet, but for his residence in 
the Yatican. But whilst the poet and his wife 
" — both of whom had forsaken the faith of their 
fathers — were spending their time and tlieir 
substance in trying to persuade others to fol- 
low their examples; whilst, I say, these per- 
verts were hobnobbing with Yatican priests and 
giving themselves up to making converts to the 
Holy Eoman Church, they neglected to pro- 
vide, so it seems, spiritual or even moral food 
for those of their own, and especially for her 
of their own household ; and must now eat in 
shame and sorrow the bitter fruit of their own 
folly. I pity them, but I cannot spare them, 
for their sad case points a moral which I would 
have my beloved country people know and 
ponder. 



181 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 



THE AMERICAN WIDOW AND SON. 

I do not just now remember any other nota- 
ble male converts in the American colony. Of 
the numerous American women who have for- 
saken the faith of their fathers, I shall have lit- 
tle to say. I cannot pass from this subject, 
however, without an observation or two con- 
cerning a lady convert who is somewhat promi- 
nent in the social life of Eome. This lady is of 
New England birth, and, like the man with the 
library, was brought up on the rather thin gruel 
of Unitarianism. She visited Eome and caught 
the "holy fever" early in life. At her mar- 
riage, however, with a rich American widower, 
she recanted and returned to the Protestant 
fold, but not to her Unitarian gruel. Her hus- 
band was a member of the Astor family and an 
author of some merit. On his death he left his 
property to his widow, in custody for his only 
son, with the solemn pledge from his wife — so I 
am told — that she would remain a Protestant 
and bring their son up in that faith. But im- 
mediately on the death of the father the widow 
had the son baptized into the Holy Eoman 
Church, and he has now some honorary posi- 



183 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

tion in the Yatican, being attached, I believe, to 
the Pope's household, in some way or other. 
The lady's salon is always full of priests, mon- 
signores, cardinals, etc., some of whom do not 
bear very savory reputations. This lady once 
had a violent quarrel with one of these holy 
men, but I believe it is all made up now. Said 
a man of the world to me the other day : '' I 
never hear of an American or English woman 
going over to Eome without wondering what 
naughty thing she has been up to, or intends 
to be up to." Exactly so. I cannot conceive 
how it is possible for any strong-minded, earn- 
est-hearted person to change his or her relig- 
ion, whatever it may be. 

Conversions from one christian church to 
another christian church are not pretty things 
to behold. There may be some cases in which 
they are pardonable. For example, where an 
American woman buys a European title, it is 
but proper, I suppose, that she should take the 
religious " creed " that goes with it. And, as a 
matter of fact, it is not often that an American 
woman will suffer a mere question of religion 
to stand in the way of a title, or that a Euro- 
pean fortune-hunter will allow it to interpose 
between himself and the American dollar. Now 



183 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

and then, however, such matters do intrude 
themselves, and I remember at least one case of 
this kind. In the winter of '88-'89 a very rich 
American family visited Rome, with an only 
child, a daughter, who was sole heir to at least 
^NQ millions of dollars. The parents were ac- 
quainted with nobody in Eome ; but their wealth 
and their pretty daughter soon made them 
known, and the fortune-hunters were on hand 
in great abundance. 

Amongst this numerous class was a certain 
notorious man about town, whose father and 
elder brother were papal princes. Well, this 
so-called prince had just played for the hand 
of a "Washington heiress, of his own religious 
communion, and had lost. But there was game 
still worth two or three of the other. Here 
was youth (the child was but sixteen), beauty, 
and a fortune three or four times as large as 
the lost prize. The American family had been 
in Eome just long enough for the story of their 
great wealth to reach the eager sons of every 
noble Roman beggar, when this prince in 
question gave out that he had fallen madly in 
love with an unknown American girl, and only 
wanted a chance to throw his princely person 
(with his princely debts) at her feet. Now, 



184 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

strange to say, it turned out that this unknown 
beauty was the well-known heiress. What a 
cruel fate ! The prince was so sad and disap- 
pointed ; for as he had just failed in the hot 
chase of one American heiress, how could he 
turn so quickly to the pursuit of another ? His 
case was hopeless. He would be accused of 
seeking" her fortune, and not her heart, which 
of course was far from his thoughts. He there- 
fore determined to suffer in silence. But one 
day whilst in the company of a well-known 
American author, the prince grew confidential, 
and unburdened his woe to this Roman-Amer- 
ican. But our author, having a more sanguine 
temperament, was not so sure of the hopeless- 
ness of the prince's love; he counselled him 
to take heart, and promised that he, the au- 
thor, would see what could be done. For had 
he not solved worse difficulties than this in his 
books ? 

Not many days afterward, all Eome knew the 
" romance " of the proud prince and his hope- 
less love ; and this sad and pathetic story 
checked, for a time let us hope, the wild gaiety 
of frivolous Rome. The parents of the heiress 
heard it ; the heiress herself heard it, and it 
made of course a deep impression upon this 



185 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

democratic family. But apart from the ques- 
tion of money, which could not even be thought 
of in connection with so simple-minded and 
true-hearted a prince, there was, to the mother, 
at least, the very serious question of religion. 

The mother of the heiress was a Presby- 
terian ; she knew nothing of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church, but had heard that the priests 
during certain ceremonies eat babies ; and she 
could not therefore under any circumstances 
give her daughter in marriage to a member of 
that Church. Several members of the Ameri- 
can colony — not unwilling to oblige a prince 
— ^used all their persuasive powers to change 
the mind of the obdurate mother. The Ameri- 
can rector, for a wonder, did not know the 
prince, and was therefore opposed to the 
match. The prince hearing of this opposition, 
paid a visit to this distinguished gentleman, 
and all opposition from that quarter was si- 
lenced. The child herself, in spite of all the in- 
decent noise about the affair and the unseemly 
notoriety which it forced upon her, was not 
seriously smitten with, truth to say, the rather 
plain person of the prince. But hearing such 
a commotion made around and about herself 
and a prince, she was naturally flattered, and 

186 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

might have consented to sacrifice her youth to 
a man more than twice her age, and her inno- 
cency to a notorious rake. The father was 
open to conviction, but the mother was not. 
After the excitement had lasted for several 
weeks, it was thought that a change of air 
would be good for the young girl, who was not 
in robust health. The mother and daughter 
were invited by the aforementioned author to 
visit him in his beautiful home at Sorrento; 
and, strange to relate, the prince *' happened " 
to pay a visit to our author at the same time. 
A curious coincidence, was it not? Yet, in 
spite of all this trickery and wire-pulling, the 
wedding did not come off. The mother's 
prejudices against the baby-eating priests, and 
the child's indifference, could not be overcome. 
After leaving Eome the family visited Ger- 
many — the father's native land — and the daugh- 
ter was there betrothed to a German prince. 
But the poor child never recovered from the 
Eoman fever, and died in Paris in the month of 
June, 1889. The body was taken to America for 
interment, and the Koman prince had the good 
sense, or it may have been the good heart, to 
accompany the sorrowful parents to their home, 
and was present at the funeral. He thus played 



187 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

the rSle of true lover to the end. It is said that 
the American author positively insisted upon 
the prince taking this trip to America, in order 
that he, the author, might be justified of the 
world. But how people do talk ! 

A RECENT EVENT — ^MATRIMONIAL. 

For several years a certain Scandinavian, with 
one or two noble titles — given him by the 
Pope — ^had been hanging about the skirts of 
the American colony in Kome on the look-out 
for an heiress. A knowing man was this same 
Scandinavian ; and among the many things that 
he knew was the fact that rich American 
fathers do not always give large " dots " to 
their pretty daughters. He therefore decided 
to take no chances with prospective heiresses, 
if he could secure a wife who was in actual pos- 
session. He waited patiently and long, and his 
wisdom and perseverance were at last jus- 
tified. In the flowery month of May (1891) he 
was united in holy matrimony to a New York 
lady with at least fifteen thousand dollars a 
year. This sum, it is true, is not "so deep as a 
well nor so wide as a church door," but 'tis 
enough ; it will serve the immediate necessities 

188 



AMERICANS IN ROME. 

of this penniless papal count. The merit of 
this snug- little sum is its actuality; its free- 
dom from all restraints of father or mother — or 
aunt. The fact that the wife is a few years 
older than the husband does not signify ; for it 
was a genuine love affair — so the senior lady of 
the American colony certifies ; and this good 
soul, knowing the facts, did all in her power to 
bring about the union of these two happy 
hearts. True, the man was a papist and the 
maid was a Protestant, but this kind-hearted 
lady — herself a Protestant, — was not so bigoted 
as to withhold her motherly aid and advice to 
this motherless countrywoman in a strange 
land. So the American lady became a Holy 
Eoman but a few days before she became a 
papal countess. The kindly services of this 
well-known lady have been rather severely 
criticised by some unsympathetic persons, who 
say that she would have better shown her kind- 
ness to her countrywoman by making some 
careful inquiries concerning the character of 
the man who sought the hand of this orphan- 
heiress. The bride belongs to a good family ; 
her brother married a daughter of a certain 
American bishop. If she is wise enough to 
hold fast to her purse-strings, she may not have 

189 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

to ask charity from her relations for some time 
to come. 

There are, I am glad to say, a few Americans 
in Rome whose manner of life is, so far as I 
know, wholly blameless, and of whom I have no 
right to speak in these pages. There are, how- 
ever, a few semi-public characters that may be 
mentioned, I feel sure, without offence. Fore- 
most among these is the correspondent of the 
London Times, with his beautiful Greek wife 
and his Greco-American daughters, who have 
returned to Rome after an absence of some 
years. And then there is an American banker 
in Rome, who has been there nearly half a 
century, and who could tell some interesting 
stories, I doubt not, of Americans he has known 
in the Eternal City. 



190 



XV. 

FLOEEKCE. 

Of all Italians the Tuscans are the most 
amiable, the most intelligent, and the least 
given to idolatry. The Italian language was 
born in Florence. The Renaissance began and 
ended in Florence ; and it has left its mark to 
this day upon the Tuscan life and character. 
The greatest scholar, the greatest artist, and the 
greatest preacher of the fifteenth century were 
all essentially Florentine. Pico della Miran- 
dola, Buonarroti, and Savonarola were the most 
conspicuous figures of the Eenaissance. Flor- 
ence was the centre and inspiration of that new 
and complex life and thought which liberated 
Italy from a tyrannical and vicious Papacy; 
and the Vatican has never regained its lost 
power in Tuscany. 

The Tuscans are always Italians first and 
Catholics afterwards; and they have at last 
taught the lesson to all Italy. The Romans 



191 



AMERIGAJSfS IN EUROPE. 

always demanded a formula and a tyrant. The 
Florentines were never tolerant of either. Flor- 
ence loved and followed Savonarola as its 
spiritual master and guide ; but when he would 
become its political tyrant it destroyed him. In 
Rome they do not ask w^hy you are a heretic, 
but are you one. If you are not, it makes no 
difference what you do, all is well ; if you are, 
do what you will, there is no hope for you. In 
Florence such questions are never raised. 

The Renaissance, from first to last, had little 
or no influence upon Rome. By Rome I mean, 
of course. Papal Rome; it never produced a 
real master in Art, or Literature, or Science. 
She has employed some masters in art, it is 
true; but they have been employed for the 
glory of the Papacy, and not for the enlighten- 
ment of the nation. 

Rome is the graveyard of twenty centuries ; 
Florence is the Renaissance, the new birth, of 
modern Italy. Nothing strong, or healthy, or 
beautiful, can come out of the buried, decayed 
and putrid past. Graveyards can give no new 
inspiration, no live impulse, no healthy senti- 
ment, to the mind and heart. If you wish to 
write, or paint, or think, or love, get out and 
away from the damp and the death, the char- 



193 



I 



FLORENCE. 

nel-liouse atmosphere, of Eome. Nothing good 
or pure has come out of her for fifteen hundred 
years or more. 

Go to the Catacombs if you would know what 
Eome means. These are the true symbols of 
this " citta eterna," an Eternal City of the Dead 
and not of the Living. Flee from it ; and shake 
its dust, the dust of the Caesars and the Popes, 
from off your feet, for Kome is the tomb of both. 
The broken and defaced emblems of the Forum 
and the Palaces of the Caesars are worth a visit ; 
but it is worse than midsummer madness to 
take up your residence there. Eome is only 
fit for the abode of rats and bats, of rooks and 
crows, of toads and lizards. These things are 
the true, the natural, inhabitants, of this city 
of darkness and foulness, of death and decay. 
Let us have done with those silly vaporings, 
those mawkish, sickly, ignorant sentimentaliz- 
ings about this sepulchre of the dead. 

Eome represents all that is bad in Italy; 
Florence all that is good. Florence has given 
to the world two of the greatest masters 
that ever lived — Dante, and Michael Angelo. 
Eome has imprisoned and tortured in all ages 
every great and good man she could lay her 
hands on; and would do so to-day if ehe 



193 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

could, for she is still the same old mouse- 
trap. 

These things are patent to everybody of any 
discrimination. But the most astounding thing 
is the fact that there are actually people, born 
in America, who are fools enough to be im- 
posed upon by the sublime pretensions of this 
" Infallible Yicar of God ! " I am willing to 
confess that I lose my temper sometimes over 
this subject ; and it is because my country- 
women have eyes, and see not ; ears, and hear 
not that the Papacy, like the Nobility, is a 
thing of the past. 

Europe has quite done with both of these 
unclean and worn-out garments, and is laugh- 
ing in her sleeve at the simple-minded Yan- 
kee's wish to robe himself — or rather her- 
self — in the cast-off vestments of the Old 
World. 

I have no fault to find with the Catholic 
Church in America, for I know perfectly well 
that at heart she hates Rome, as much as I do ; 
and I believe, also, that erelong she will take 
the brave step of freeing herself from the doc- 
trines of Ultramontanism, and from all tem- 
poral allegiance to the Bishop of Rome. 

Let but the Roman Catholic Church in the 



194 



FLORENCE. 

United States of America declare herself a free 
and independent National Church, owning no 
temporal or political allegiance to any power 
outside of the American Republic, and her influ- 
ence and power in the United States will be 
increased at once a hundredfold. Who will be 
the leader in this truly Christian, as well as 
patriotic, movement % The bishop who shall 
lead his Church to such a strong position will 
have a greater, a more glorious, name in his- 
tory than any Eoman Catholic prelate since 
Leo the Great. 

Florence has always attracted people of su- 
perior intelligence and taste. The English, the 
German, and the American residents in Flor- 
ence have always included some people of dis- 
tinction. The graves of Walter Savage Lan- 
dor, Mrs. Browning, Theodore Parker, and 
Hiram Powers are in the little Protestant cem- 
etery at Florence. At the present time, how- 
ever, there are but few foreigners of distinc- 
tion residing in Florence. *' Ouida " is almost 
the only English author of note who now has 
a residence there. But I must crave pardon 
for mentioning " Ouida," the worst of English 
writers, in connection with Mrs. Browning, the 
best of English writers. 



195 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Artists are also growing" fewer and fewer in 
number each year. Hiram Powers was the 
first American sculptor to establish himself 
here. This was about fifty years ago. Since 
his death, two of his sons carry on the business, 
one in Florence, the other in America. Mr. 
Thomas Ball is the best known living American 
sculptor in Florence, and is one of the best stat- 
uaries, all things considered, that our country 
has produced. His son-in-law, Mr. Cooper, is 
also an artist of ability. Mr. Mead has some 
merit, I hear, but in his case I cannot speak 
from personal knowledge. 

There are three or four other American stat- 
uaries, among them a lady, Miss Freebourne. 
The oldest American painter now living in 
Florence is Mr. Gould. Then follow in the 
order of residence Mr. Craig, Miss Alexander,, 
whom Euskin so much admires, Mr. Turner, 
Mr. Freeman, and Mr. Lowring. Mr. Meeks 
has, I understand, exchanged the studio for 
the shop ; and is now more of a " dealer " 
than a painter. I may also mention that Mr. 
Sargent was born in Florence. 

I have said that the only Americans of im- 
portance in Florence are artists ; and they are 
a diminishing quantity. 



196 



FLORENCE. 
Of course Florence is not without its 

AMEEICAN CONTESSA AND MAECHESA, 

and these ladies doubtless consider themselves 
by far the most important personages in this 
beautiful Tuscan city. And this brings me to 
American society in Florence, which has al- 
ways been, I am sorry to say, just a little 
" fishy." But let that pass. Florence society 
at its best, however, has always had more ijre- 
tensions and less distinction than any Ameri- 
can colony in Europe. It has few things to rec- 
ommend it — ^not even money. Still it struggles 
hard, very hard, to make believe something or 
other. 

To begin with — and not a good beginning 
either — the Americans who are, or think them- 
selves, society people in Florence, will be Eng- 
lish, or perish in the attempt. This is the 
common, the glorious, ambition of every man 
and woman — I mean every male and female — 
of them. I once said to a prominent (male) 
member of this Anglo-American colony, that I 
took him for an Englishman. This was a 
"whopper," I confess, but I had strong rea- 
sons for committing this sin, and hope I have 
been forgiven. It worked beautifully, for it 

197 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

won his miglity heart at once. He explained to 
me, however, with a very modest air, that he 
was not exactly an Englishman ; that his great- 
great-grandfather, or somebody, was ; and that 
he himself was quite " English, you know," in 
his tastes. He admired the English nation, 
of course above all others, and made some 
very impartial criticisms upon his own vulgar 
country people. That little white lie — as all 
whoppers are — ^procured for me many a lit- 
tle courtesy from this '^ man without a coun- 
try." 

There is an American church in Florence, the i^ 
oldest one, I believe, on the Continent of Eu- 
rope ; but of course this " gentleman " and his 
equally noble-minded compatriots, prefer the 
British church, with its prayers for the health 
and wealth of the Queen, and of Albert Edward, 
Prince of Wales. There is an ex-American 
Minister to Greece, an ex-American Minister to 
Borne, an ex-professor of an American college, 
and several other ex-Americans of one kind and 
another, residing in Florence. Among these 
there is a fussy little man who puts " Oxon." 
after his name and sets up for a lawyer. But 
nobody takes him seriously, for he spends half 
of his time in trying to make people believe he 

198 



FLORENCE, 

is doing something, and the other half in try- 
ing to disguise his nationality — in which latter 
ambition I am sure all good Americans will 
pray for his success. 

At the head and front of the Anglo-American 
social world is a most tremendous swell, who 
writes ** Cav." before his name ; keeps a car- 
riage and a dairy, and the keys of the kingdom 
of Florence snobdom. That there may be no 
mistake as to what I mean by the word " snob,'* 
I think it wise to insert the following defini- 
tions : "A snob," says Thackeray, " is that man 
or woman who is always pretending to be some- 
thing better, especially richer or more fashion- 
able, than other people are." Lever defines a 
snob as "a fellow who wants to be taken for 
better or richer, or cleverer, or more influen- 
tial, than he really is." This American " Cav." 
has a Franco-Dutch name, an English wife, 
and is altogether a person of the first impor- 
tance — ^in the kingdom above mentioned. 

The United States Consul in Florence (at the 
time of this writing) is an elderly man ; a re- 
spectable man, and a decidedly handsome man ; 
with long white hair and beard and a most 
dignified bearing. He is, I believe, from Penn- 
sylvania. A change in the personnel of the 



199 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Consulate was long the desire of every decent 
American in Florence. 

As I have already intimated, the Florentines 
bother their heads very little about *' priests in 
petticoats." There are few Church dignitaries 
en evidence in this Tuscan city, and my fair 
compatriots have, therefore, for the most part, 
escaped the Holy Roman fever. There have 
really not been, so far as I know, more than a 
half dozen fatal cases within as many years, 
and in each case the holy fever has been com- 
plicated by the title- complaint. 

TITLED AMERICANS IN ELORENCE. 

It would be unpardonable in me not to men- 
tion that a certain mademoiselle resident in 
Florence has become an honorary Contessa, 
and has actually entertained — at her mother's 
residence — a young gentleman who has lodg- 
ings at the " Palazzo Pitti," and who is known 
as the " Duke d'Aosto." A Miss F •, of Bal- 
timore, I think, has been transformed into an 
honorary Marchesa. You will be kind enough 
to observe that few, verj^- few, of our beloved 
compatriots get hold of first-class, or even 
bona fide, titles. In the two cases just noticed 

SOO 



FLOREJSfGE, 

the honorary (?) badges are the merest shadows 
of the real substance. 

It is, however, astonishing how much sub- 
stantial glory the American girl can extract 
from these unsubstantial titles. For example, 
how often have I seen this Contessa's carriage 
singled out in the Cascine for special observa- 
tion, admiration, and inquiry ! It is very gen- 
erally mistaken by strangers for a royal coach. 
Could anything be more glorious ? An Ameri- 
can girl taken for a royal personage ! Every- 
thing about this lady's " turn-out " is most 
pronounced. The coachman and footman are 
powdered and corded and laced. But above 
everything else shines resplendent the symbol 
of the " Gheradescas," painted in uncommonly 
large characters upon the carriage-doors, where 
one cannot choose but see. 

The Conte and the Contessa, I am pained to 
relate, have not always hit it off together after 
the most approved conjugal fashion. The 
Conte, who is a handsome man, is somewhat of 
a Lothario, and his promiscuous gallantry — or 
rather his special devotion to another — awak- 
ened at one time the green-eyed monster within 
the breast of his Vvife, which resulted in a sejoa- 
ration. But a reunion has taken place, and let 



201 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

US hope that peace and contentment again 
reign within their breasts. 

" The Marchesa " married into a typical 
patriarchal Italian family, and one which would 
delight the heart of Mr. F. Marion Crawford, for 
I feel certain that this author could get mate- 
rial and local color enough out of this family 
for half a dozen or so of " Saracinescas." To 
prevent wrong impressions, let me hasten to 
say that this family is a good one, as well as a 
large one, and a rich one — as riches go in Italy. 

The Torrigiani possess the largest and most 
beautiful garden, and the most valuable private 
picture-gallery, in Florence. The sons are all 
married, and have brought their wives to the 
patriarchal palace, where each one has lodg- 
ings assigned her by the real and only genuine 
" Marchesa," the mother of the family. There 
are at least four sons, with their wives and 
children, living together under one paternal 
roof and one maternal suj)ervision. At present, 
it is said, there are twenty-six covers regularly 
laid for dinner at this family board, and grand- 
children will continue to arrive, we may suj)- 
pose, for the next twentj^ years, which repre- 
sents a potentiality for increase beyond the 
flight of the wildest fancy. Each one of the 

202 



FLORENCE. 

four wives, according' to " Saracinesca," must 
receive her pin-money, and everything" she eats 
and wears, directly from the hand of the very 
maternal " Marchesa." If a wife takes one 
lump of sugar to-day more than her share, she 
must take one lump less than her share to- 
morrow. 

These are only a few of the important facts 
concerning" Italian family life that the author 
of *' Saracinesca " has revealed to a curious 
world, and upon which he very naturally 
founds his claim to exclusive knowledge of all 
things Italian. The American wife, in this 
community of wives, had it directly stipulated 
in the marriage contract that she was to be al- 
lowed her own private carriage. And it is just 
possible also that she may have something be- 
sides her regular portion of the maternal allow- 
ance, as she has a very rich and very indulgent 
grandma living near at hand in the Via de Mal- 
contenti, 1 have every reason to think that this 
American "honorary Marchesa" is happily 
married, as far as the husband has to do with 
it. But how an American girl, accustomed to 
the free and joyful life of her own country, can 
be really and truly happy under such circum- 
stances, is a mystery. She has not, she cannot 

203 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

have, many thing's in common with the other 
members of the family. They may all be very 
amiable and kind, as the Italians usually are ; 
but there is a gulf in thought and sentiment 
between them, which cannot be bridged. I can 
fancy that hardly a day passes without a sigh 
from the American v/ife for her American life — 
for the cheerful and cosy American home, with 
the hundred little comforts, amusements, and 
privileges, which sweet memory brings back 
from her far-away native land. 

Of course, there are several other American 
wives with Florentine husbands. The richest 
and most important of these was the widow of 
an American consul who died here. This lady 
is now the wife of an Italian, who served her 
first husband as vice-consul. She has, I fancy 
the biggest purse of any American woman in 
Florence, and has also the reputation of using 
it in a kind and generous way. Just as I write, 
news of three American weddings comes to 
me from Florence, and a " uniform " figures in 
^each one of them. 

This is not the first time that the eldest of 
these brides has tried her luck in the military 
market. Some two or three years ago she took 
a fancy to a particular uniform, and expressed 



204 



FLORENCE. 

her wish to buy iL But there was some mis- 
understanding at the last moment about the 
price, and the uniform was never delivered. 
The second of these new brides is an American 
by birth only. Her family is Italian, but her 
fortune is American made. The last of the 
three is a niece of a distinguished rector in 
New York. The marriage is said to be a little 
better than such alliances usually are. The 
bridegroom, for a wonder, is a Protestant, and 
it is called a love-match. But the uniform had 
to be paid for all the same, for no officer in the 
Italian army can be permitted to marry unless 
the sum of at least fifty thousand lire be paid 
down before the marriage takes place ; and 
there is jDerhaps not one officer in a thousand 
who has fifty cents beyond his very small salary. 
A captain, for examiole, does not get quite fifty 
dollars a month. Yery few of these officers 
are gentlemen born (to use the cant society 
phrase) ; so that the uniform is really all the 
American and English girls get for their 
money. But a great many of these officers re- 
sign as soon as they marrj^, so that the poor 
girl is even cheated out of her uniform. 



205 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 



A MAN IN LOVE WITH HIS HORSES. 

About thirty-five years ago, as near as I can 
hit it by a guess, a very handsome man came to 
Florence as secretary to the American Lega- 
tion. He was a member of a Washington Square 
family in New York. He was amiable, well- 
mannered, and rich. From such a man the so- 
cial world naturally expected great things. But 
it was sadly disappointed, for this gentleman, 
who might have been the beau of Florence, be- 
came her " whip," and devoted himself, not to 
the cultivation of fair women, but of fine horses. 
So long as he remained Secretary of Legation 
there were certain official and social duties 
which he was obliged to perform. But when 
the Italian Court left Florence he resigned his 
office, and remained behind, true to his love — 
for his horses. Since then he has been seen 
by Florentine society only on the box of his 
coach. For a number of years this gentleman 
flrove — ^not four — but fourteen-in-hand along 
tlie - Lung Arno " and through the Cascine, to 
the i^jninent peril of the Florentine public. 
There "vypr^ several runaways and smash-ups 
from time to time, till the authorities concluded 



FLORENCE. 

tliat they were paying- too dear for their Ameri- 
can whistle, and passed a law reducing the 
fourteen — which were not always " in hand " — 
to six. The gentleman in question was until 
very lately to be seen behind this modest team, 
seated upon the box, but not holding the " rib- 
bons." 



THE AMERICAN CHURCH IN FLORENCE. 

There have been a number of American rec- 
tors in Florence — good, bad, and indifferent ; 
but they come and go at such short intervals, 
that I have not been able to get a good sitting 
from any one of them. The Church itself is rath- 
er pretty — the prettiest and most Church-like 
building of any of the Protestant places of wor- 
ship in Florence. 

But I had forgotten that Americans and 
English alike on the Continent never say 
" Protestant " any more. The curious; thing 
about this Church is the fact that it is a part 
of one of the celebrated Eoman Catholic 
churches of Florence — the Church of the Car- 
mine. How the American Episcopal Church 
happened to get possession of this part of a 
venerable Eoman Catholic edifice, would make 



207 



AMEBI0AN3 IN EUROPE. 

a page or so of very interesting- Church his- 
tory. I have heard the following improbable 
story, which I give for what it is worth : 

The first American rector in Florence had a 
somewhat strange ecclesiastical history. He 
started in his ministerial career as a clergyman 
of the American Protestant Episcopal Church. 
After a few years' service in this Church, he 
changed and w^ent to Eome — both in the geo- 
graphical and religious sense. He became a 
great favorite at the Vatican, was a pan ©f 
marked ability, and might have attained to a 
seat in the College of Cardinals, so it is said ; 
but, just as the red cap was about to be offered 
him, he recanted and came back to the church 
of his first love. This somewhat complicated 
matters ; for in the mean time his wife had 
become the Mother Superior of a Convent, 
and the children, a son and a daughter, were 
farmed out, so to speak. When he returned to 
his Mother Church he took his children with 
him, but not his wife. She refused to travel 
any farther in the journey of life with such an 
erratic lord and master, and she lived and died 
a Lady Superior in the Holy Koman Church. 
The husband came to Florence and began to 
hold services according? to "the Kilual of the 



FLORENCE. 

Protestant Episcopal Church of America." 
These services were at first held in private 
houses. He was a man, however, who attracted 
to himself troops of friends, and by their aid 
was soon able to establish himself in a per- 
manent place of worship. It was through him 
that the Church in question was secured. He 
acted as rector for several years, with great 
ability, if not to the universal satisfaction. 

But the strangest part of this story is to come. 
I have been told by some of the gossips in 
Florence — and there are more of these crea- 
tures in this city, to the square inch, than in 
any other place on earth — that this clergyman 
was in reality a Jesuit priest in the employ of 
the Vatican ; and that is why he got possession 
of a part of this venerable Eoman Catholic 
Church edifice. However this may be, one 
thing is certain, the Church property is left in 
the hands of the trustees of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church of America, who are not, I 
suppose, Jesuits. The son and daughter of 
this mysterious clergyman still reside in Flor- 
ence, and are safe within the fold, of the Holy 
Eoman Church. The present American rector 
has been in Florence but a short time, and I 
know nothing concerning him and his doings 



AMERICANS IN EUUOPE. 

worthy of notice in these pages, except this 
that he has not, as yet, " caught on " to the 
American colony in Florence. 

And now I have finished my brief remarks 
about Americans in Kome and Florence. There 
are some American women of uncertain ages 
living about in different parts of Italy, away 
from these two centres, but they are few and far 
between, and wholly unavailable for the pur- 
poses of this book. 

I shall therefore notice only one lady who 
was for several years a well-known character in 
Eome, and who has taken up her abode in the 
beautiful old mediaeval town of Siena, away 
from all social wars and rumors of wars. She 
must find the quiet retreat a very great change 
from the exciting life she once lived "by the 
Tiber." And now — 

Addioj Bella Italia. 



210 



XVI. 
AMEKICANS ON THE EIVIERA. 

NICE. 

Nice is the centre around which Americans 
flock on the Eiviera. And they show their good 
sense, too, by preferring it to any of the other 
neighboring places of winter resort. Nice is a 
well-bnilt, well-paved, and well-regulated town, 
with all the advantages of country and climate, 
and without the very serious disadvantages of 
narrow streets, bad roads, and bad municipal 
governments, such, I mean, as are to be found 
not a thousand miles on either side of this 
metropolis of the Eiviera. 

The Eiviera as a place of sojourn has one 
great advantage — there are no churches, no 
pictures, no ruins, no dug-ups, no sights of any 
kind to weary the legs and addle the brains of 
my inquiring country people. If, therefore, you 
are seen in Nice or at any other place along 
the French Mediterranean seaboard, the best 



211 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

thing is to confess at once that you are there 
for pleasure, and for no other purpose whatso- 
ever — ^that is, unless you are so unfortunate as 
to be an invalid. In that case your proper 
place is at home. You can invent nothing 
which will serve you as any sort of a pretence 
for living on the Eiviera ; and it is best to " ac- 
knowledge the corn," and own that you are on 
pleasure bent. 

In London or Paris, in Eome or Florence, you 
can hide your real purpose behind churches 
and picture-galleries, antiquities and ruins, and 
a hundred other little devices and hypocrisies. 
But in Nice, or Cannes, or Mentone, you are out 
in the open, without any cover or shield or 
other means of defence — I mean, disguise. So 
it is better not to struggle to keep up an ap- 
pearance of sober-mindedness. 

I advise you, therefore, to throw off all make- 
believes, and do at once what you are expected 
to do, and what you most certainly will do, 
whatever your innocent little pretence may 
be. You will walk in the "Promenade des 
Anglais ; " drive to " Yillefranche " and Monte 
Carlo ; dance at the Circle de la Mediteranoe, 
and go to the American Church on Sundaj^ 
Yes, to the American Church, and for the rea- 



212 



AMERICANS ON THE BIVIEBA. 

son that this is the fashionable church of Nice. 
The edifice itself makes a very pretty little 
picture, with its cold gray stone and graceful 
spire. The rectory is a very cosy building", 
has a reputation for hospitality, and is the chief 
centre of the American colony. The rector has 
been in Nice for about fifteen years. He is a 
rich man, entertains a great deal, and is very 
popular as a man and a pastor — ^but not, I 
think, as a reader or preacher. He is an Ameri- 
can, and there is no mistaking the fact. He 
looks and talks and acts as though he had 
just arrived from California, v/here he spent 
several years as a missionary. 

There is less European varnish on this man 
than on any American I have ever seen. I 
have never met a man with a less assuming or 
a more modest air. His abilities are very 
modest, too, I grant ; but his genuine Ameri- 
can character covers, in my mind, a multitude 
of deficiencies. Like all good Americans, this 
gentleman is much given to story-telling ; but 
he should remember that after the same person 
has heard the same story, say for the twelfth 
time, it is quite possible that a slight feeling of 
monotony, and it may be melancholia, is liable 
to steal over his patriotic soul. 



213 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

Barring this very inconsiderable item of com- 
plaint, the American rector in Nice is a real 
brick from the genuine American mould. The 
wife of the rector is, I believe, a Swede, and is 
every bit as popular— with some people — as 
the rector himself. This lady's weekly recep- 
tions are the most popular *'At Homes " in Nice. 
But one word more concerning the rector. He 
remained a bachelor in Nice for several years, 
and played a very practical and most cruel joke 
upon Nice society. I have the story from one 
of his brother parsons, and therefore feel per- 
fectly safe in giving it just as I heard it. 

As I have already intimated, this clergyman 
came to Nice from the far Western States of 
America, and there was nothing in his manner 
or habits of life to indicate money. On the 
contrary, everything seemed to point to a short 
check-book. This being the case, ambitious 
mothers seldom looked at the American rector 
a second time. It became gradually known, 
however, that the Western air was assumed, or 
at least acquired, and that he was a New Yorker 
by birth and training. His name, or something 
like it, was also known by well-informed peo- 
ple, to be associated with one or two Gotham 
-millionaires. But no one seemed to have the 



!14 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA, 

wit to connect these facts in any logical se- 
quence; for no one could have supposed for 
one moment that this quiet parson possessed 
either means or expectations ; and when it was 
known that he had been quietly married in Lon- 
don to a Swedish widow, the mothers and the 
daughters merely smiled a good-natured smile 
at each other and said : " Well, she has got a 
good enough amiable husband, but that is all." 

But it was not all, by a long shot ; for the 
knowing Swedish v/idow had married a rich 
man, as well as an amiable man, and one, it is 
said, who will be much richer by-and-by. When 
this important fact was fully knov/n in society, 
the mothers looked " sold " at their daughters, 
the daughters looked "blank" at their mothers, 
and the more mature spinsters good-naturedly 
remarked that the widow's conduct had been 
most shameful. They all joined in one loud 
and long " Did you ever ? " And as no one had 
ever seen or heard of such a strange man be- 
fore, all agreed to make the best of it, and are 
now often to be met around the hospitable 
board of the American rectory. 

I have come across at least three ladies in 
Nice who modestly intimated that they might 
have been the wife of the rector, a,nd would 



215 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

have been, too, had they known all. But I have 
always had mj^ own private opinion upon this 
subject. 

One good story suggests another, and some- 
times a better. There is a Russo-American 
Countess in Nice who, in spite of her title, has 
a very interesting and romantic history. She 
was the daughter of a New Jersey gentleman. 
Her father was not a rich man, but he had a 
good enough income, and his family held a good 
position in the best society. His daughters 
were pretty — at least the subject of the romance 
was — but they had no " dot," a fact v/hich was 
not generally known. Well, it so happened 
that a Russian nobleman, secretary of the 
Russian embassy at Washington, asked this 
daughter in marriage ; to which proposition the 
American father answered : " You doubtless 
think, Count, from the position we hold in 
society and the manner in which we live, that 
I am a rich man and can give my daughter a 
large marriage dowry. But this is a mistake ; 
I can give no marriage settlement whatever with 
my daughter's hand." To all of which the true 
lover made answer : " It is your daughter, sir, 
and not your money, that I am in love with." 
And the wedding-bells rang right merrily when 



216 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA, 

the New Jersey " lily " became a Russian Coun- 
tess. The husband was the eldest son, and had 
a very considerable property; but it was en- 
tailed, and at his death must pass on to the 
next in line. Knowing-, therefore, that, in the 
event of his being taken off, his widow would 
be left unprovided for, tliis noble-minded Count 
used all possible economy in his manner of life, 
and at his death he had saved enough from his 
annual income to leave his widow a sufficient 
fortune. 

This man deserved his American wife, in spite 
of his title, and I have no special objections to 
offer against this lady's holding on to the title 
of such a husband. The Countess has a pretty 
home in Nice, and is easily the first American 
lady on the Riviera. 

There are at least two more American Coun- 
tesses and as many Baronesses living at Nice. 
One of the Countesses married a nice Scotch- 
Italian lad, and since his marriage he has 
grown up to be a well-behaved religious man. 
This young Count is one of the officers of the 
American church. The other Countess is the 
step -daughter of one of the second generation 
of Vanderbilts. She married a rather elderly 
Frenchman, whose title is purely a compliment- 



317 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

ary matter. The Baronesses I know nothing" 
about. The oldest American resident in Nice 
is, or is said to be, a lady of some importance. 
She was a Miss L., of "Washington Square, 
New York, and married at an early age a gen- 
tleman holding a high position at the Court of 
the Netherlands. She is herself out of the 
society hunt, but her daughter-in-law, a very 
pretty Dutch lady, has taken her place. 

ANOTHER MAN AND HIS HOESES. 

Perhaps the most devoted friend and admirer 
of our Countess is Mr. Charles K., of Philadel- 
phia, who, like Mr. L. in Florence, is " a man- 
in-love-with-his-horses." But, unlike the New 
Yorker, the Philadelphian never allows his 
" cattle," as he calls them, to interfere with his 
social duties, or, I should say, his pleasures. On 
the contrary, his horses have contributed very 
much toward his reputation as a beau, and a 
beau he most certainly is — perhaps the greatest 
American beau who has lived on the Continent 
of Europe during the last twenty-five years. 

He married the daughter of a well-known 
American publicist, and came with his wife to 
Europe soon after the American Civil War. 

218 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

His wife died in Florence, and he has remained 
a widower, but not an entirely disconsolate one. 
Mr. K. does not drink ; he does not play : but 
he does love the dear ladies ; and everybody 
loves a lover. As a squire of dames, his horses 
have helped him not a little ; and many a 
mother (generally with a pretty daughter) has 
he driven along the " Promenade des Anglais " 
and to " Yillefranche." But the French mother 
and daughter, who appeared with him on the 
box-seat so frequently for two or three seasons, 
have not been seen of late. 

This American has the ready entrance to 
what is called the best society in France and 
Italy ; yet, in spite of this fact, he is at all times 
and under all circumstances a gentleman. 

Not far from Madame B.'s house on the 
" Promenade des Anglais " is another handsome 
villa occupied by a rich elderly American and 
his daughter. They are very nice quiet people, 
and the daughter, I have no doubt, has declined 
many of the impecunious titled gentry of 
France, and has shown her good sense in so do- 
ing. There are only one or two American fami- 
lies in Nice who go to the English Church, and 
try to be British; but they do not succeed. 
There is always an American belle or two in 

219 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE, 

Nice for the season, but I have never heard of 
any of them making* any purchases in the way 
of husbands. 

One season, not many years ago, there was a 
pretty little fair-haired lady, the daughter of a 
United States senator, who made not a little 
sensation ; but she returned to her native land 
without having made a purchase — not that she 
could not be suited, but her grave and reserved 
senatorial father would not produce the dollars. 
The next season there were two pretty dark- 
eyed New York sisters, and they also were 
" given strength to resist temptation." 

There was a certain Canadian-American girl 
who cut a very wide, I mean, a very broad, 
swath in Nice for a few months in the winter of 
'89-'90, and ended her escapade by purchasing, 
in the Paris market, the younger son of a Bel- 
gian Papal prince. This girl — she was not 
seventeen years old — was the daughter of a 
Western man of a rather unsavory reputation. 
The girl herself had no sort of bringing up, and 
was completely beyond her weak mother's con- 
trol. She was engaged to a German officer — 
through the kindly offices of her governess and 
a joe7^s^09^-keeper — before she was sixteen years 
old. She flirted with any good-looking man in 

220 



amehigans on the rivieba. 

Nice wlio chose to notice her, and gave her 
photograiohs right and left to every man who 
asked for them. 

This young and giddy girl was not long in 
Paris before she was *' spotted," in a public 
dining-room, by a younger son of a Papal 
prince, who soon verified the reports he had 
heard about her great fortune ; and in less than 
sixty days he succeeded in transferring her and 
it— especially it — to his own account. This, I 
imagine, beats the record for hasty weddings. 

While at Nice, as I have said, this young lady 
gave away her photographs to all sorts and 
conditions of men, and with a generosity which 
she very much regretted when she began ne- 
gotiations for the son of a Papal prince. It 
seemed for a while, in fact, as though these 
counterfeit presentments of the prospective 
princess, which had been scattered right and 
left in great quantities, might mar the wed- 
ding feast. Great efforts were therefore made, 
especially by the mother, to get back these 
tell-tale bits of cardboard. But this was found 
rather difficult, as no record had been taken of 
them. Of course, many of the holders were 
known; but these gentlemen (?), for the most 
part, had a very keen sense of the enhanced 

221 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

commercial value of their iDroperty, and were 
not disposed to part with it without a proper 
consideration. 

The larg-est collection of these pictures of 
the princess was owned by a little fair-haired 
Frenchman in Nice, who went about unkicked, 
I am sorry to say, bragging of his possessions. 
Whether this creature has returned his valu- 
able collection to the donor, for a proper con- 
sideration, or not, I am nnable to say. And 
this is the kind of man, let me remark, that our 
American girls meet at hotel dances, etc., on 
the Continent of Europe. 

THE BAVAEIAN BREWEE-PRINCE. 

Nice is -also celebrated as being the scene 
where the Philadelphia girl got her first view 
of the Bavarian Brewer-Prince, whom she after- 
ward bought, and at a very moderate price, I 
will allow. It is not often, however, that these 
noble Counts, Princes, Barons, etc., can be seen 
" off the premises," as very few of them pos- 
sess the wherewithal nfecessary for the con- 
veyance of their princely persons any great 
distance from their "ancestral estates." But 
if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

Mohammed must go to the mountain; or, in 
less figurative language, the purchaser of a 
Prince is compelled to go to him, as he cannot 
come to her. The Brewer-Prince, however, 
was an exception to this almost universal law 
of gravity. 

CANNES. 

There are two or three American families 
who pass the winter at Cannes ; but they, at 
least one of them, will, I suspect, be sorry to 
have his real nationality exposed, for did he 
not, once upon a time, entertain H. R. H. the 
Prince of Wales ? Since that stupendous social 
event, this gentleman has never been known to 
take the slightest interest in anybody or any- 
thing not English. This is a pity, for his name 
is a household, I may even say a nursery, w^ord 
in the land of his birth. 

There are few of us who have not, in our in- 
fantile days, been often hushed to gentle sleep 
with a bottle of " Mrs. Winslow's Soothing 
Syrup." I don't know whether this nursery 
goddess was the mother or aunt or cousin of 
Master Dick. But whatever the ties of con- 
sanguinity may be, "Dick" is entitled to his 
full share of the credit of the name as well as 



233 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

to the profits of the business. But I am pained 
to hear that he is now engaged in a law-suit 
with a prince who has not treated him — so 
he says — in a very princely fashion. Of the 
merits of the case it does not become me to 
speak, as the matter is still under judicial con- 
sideration. One little word of advice, however, 
I venture to give to " Master Dick." If he in- 
tends to live in Europe, as seems probable, it 
is much better for him to cultivate the favor 
of princes than to go to law with them. 

Speaking of Dick's quarrel with the prince — 
who, by the way, I believe is a duke — reminds 
me of a little incident I once witnessed at 
Cannes. It was in mid -Lent, and at the 
" Battle of Flowers," when everybody who kept 
a carriage and could turn out did so — the Eng- 
lish, of course, being very strong. I took up my 
position at one of the grand-stands, in the 
midst of a large company of Britons, some of 
them residents, others " voyageurs." The resi- 
dents acted as interpreters, and pointed out to 
the visitors the carriages containing the notabil- 
ities of Cannes. " There," said a pretty English 
girl, " comes the carriage of the duke." 
" Where is the duke ? " anxiously inquired her 
innocent companion, evidently unable to think 

234 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA, 

of but one "duke." *'0h! I didn't mean our 
' Duke of Cambridge,' but tlie Duke of Cannes 
— that is to say, the Duke of 'Yallombrosa.'" 
" Oh ! " said the young Saxon, " that is quite 
another thing, you know." "Yes, of course," 
responded the maiden, with some little irrita- 
tion, I thought ; *' but you should remember, 
now and then, that you are not in England." 
" All right, but don't get cross. Where is your 
bloomin' duke, then ? " *' The carriage which 
has just passed is his." " That one there ? " 
inquired the youth. "Well, the lady looks 
well enough for a duchess, I must say. She is 
uncommonly handsome. What beautiful gray 
hair ! " " Oh ! you silly boy ; I don't mean that 
carriage ; that is an American dentist and his 
wife." " Well, then, dentist or no dentist, they 
are the nicest looking people I have seen." 
And the young English tourist was quite right. 
This lady, the daughter of the New York hotel- 
keeper and the wife, now the widow, I am sorry 
to say, of a retired dentist, could pass anywhere 
for what she really is — one of the most beautiful 
women of her age to be seen anywhere, and 
one of the most perfect ladies as well. 

Let me give another case, pointing the same 
moral. I was one day in the club at Nice wit- 

235 



AMERIGANS IN EUROPE. 

nessing a game of billiards between an Ameri- 
can tailor and an English nobleman, when 
some one at my back remarked that " that man 
is not a gentleman ; he is nobody but a tailor." 
" AVhich one ? " asked his neighbor. Just so, 
for the fact was the tailor was the gentleman. 
There is, at least, one American lady of the 
genuine type living at Cannes. She was a 
Miss E., of New York, and married a gen- 
tleman, some time French minister at Wash- 
ington, and as fine a type of a Frenchman as 
can be seen anywhere. They have two sons and 
one pretty daughter, and are a very happy 
family. There are no American families resid- 
ing at Mentone, so far as I know. The same is 
true of Monte Carlo, San E-emo, and Bordi- 
gliera. These places are mostly frequented by 
Germans and English. 

so:me general observations. 

I have said nothing of Americans in Ger- 
many, for the simple reason that I know less 
about Germany and the Germans than of any 
other nation in Europe. The Germans, I must 
be frank, do not interest me, and their cooking 
gives me indigestion ; so I keep away from 

226 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

these big, fat, sentimental creatures as much as 
possible. Their persistent efforts to learn Eng- 
lish at the expense of every English-speaking 
traveller they can lay their hands on is an im- 
position which should be put down by interna- 
tional law. 

My impressionable country people went mad 
some years ago over German scholarship, and 
especially German philoso]3hy, and they have 
not quite recovered their senses yet. I am 
not such a fool as to deny that the Germans 
are scholars — perhaps the best that are going 
just now — but I do not admire their scholar- 
ship, all the same. It is very deep, I have 
no doubt, but very muddy. I must own, how- 
ever, to a rather keen relish for their phi- 
losophizing; especially do I enjoy Spinoza, 
Hegel, and Schopenhauer. But they all, every 
man of them — Kant among the rest — with the 
single exception of Spinoza, got their ideas 
from two Englishmen, Bacon and Hume. Bead 
these English masters, and you have the es- 
sence of all the German philosophy which has 
made such a hubbub in the world of late. 

Kant acknowledges that Hume touched him 
ojff. But I think Hume furnished the powder 
as well as the flint. The same thing is true in 



327 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

the domain of science. Newton and Darwin 
are to German science what Bacon and Hume 
are to German philosophy. And then there is 
Shakespeare. But let that pass. "What I wish 
to impress upon the very impressionable folk 
at Harvard, and Yale, and Johns Hopkins, and 
the rest, is this : that if they will but take the 
trouble to read and understand the English 
masters, such as I have mentioned, they will 
have little or no need to visit Germany, or to 
bother their heads over the heavy and hazy 
Germans. 

Then it is impossible to keep track of these 
prodigiously industrious muddlers. Every 
German has his own private theory of the uni- 
verse, which he evolves by the aid of his pipe 
and his mug out of his inner consciousness. 
Of course, no two German's theories agree, and 
no school of criticism lasts more than a dozen 
years. Read Eichter, and Lessing, Goethe, 
and Novalis, and let the others alone. I have 
made this slight excursion into German litera- 
ture because most of my compatriots in Ger- 
many pretend to be there for the study of 
something or other, and they are probably 
honest about it, as they certainly would not go 
to Germany for pleasure. If, then, they are 



228 



AMEBIGAN8 OK THE RIVIEBA. 

earnest seekers after knowledge, I advise tliem 
to keep at home, where people know what they 
are talking- about ; keep at home, and study the 
actual problems of modern life as they are be- 
ing developed and must be solved in America. 

As I have already said, I know little about 
the Germans, and less of the Americans in Ger- 
many. If I were content to take my knowledge 
at second-hand, I might multiply my pages and 
furnish some savory dishes of gossip at second- 
hand. But this would be a departure from my 
fixed purpose, which is to speak only of what 
I know at first hand. Of course, I feel at lib- 
erty to deal with a few glittering generalities 
now and then, concerning which I do not pre- 
tend to any exact knowledge or special inspira- 
tion. But people of sense will know how to 
discriminate, and I do not write for fools. 

The American Minister recently accredited to 
Berlin is rich and worldly and hospitable, and 
that such a man is a favorite goes without say- 
ing. He gives two or three big dinners to his 
compatriots every year, which are known and 
read of all men ; but the amount of quiet feed- 
ing which goes on under the ministerial roof, 
and of which no public record is made, is enor- 
mous. This gentleman is considered an old 

229 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

ministerial hand, for he once held the post of 
Minister at the Austrian capital, and the Aus- 
trian, you know, is considered the most aristo- 
cratic court in Europe. 

There is a Union American Church in Berlin, 
yet none but the Dissenters attend this place of i 
worship. I say Dissenters, for you must know 
that the American Episcopalians residing* in 
Europe use this British word to designate their 
Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Wes- 
leyan, and other Christian brethren, who are 
not Episcopalians. 

The word *' Dissenter " has a proper his- 
torical significance in England, but it has no 
meaning whatever when applied to Americans. 
This is another illustration of the fact that 
Americans who copy the English never get 
things right. " Dissenter," indeed ! as though 
the overwhelming majority of American citi- 
zens would ever take the trouble to dissent 
from so small a body as the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church of America. And then, of course, 
there can be no Dissent where there is no 
Establishment ; and the Protestant Episcopal 
communion is not yet the Established Church 
of America, nor is she likely to be, as she has a 
rather dubious record on questions of loyalty 



230 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

and patriotism. But the Episcopalians are 
nothing if not English, and they include 
within their little fold almost all the Anglo- 
maniacs to be found on either side of the 
Great Water. 

The last general convention but one of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church of America had 
the English fever very badly ; and the com- 
plaint has now spread from the bishops to the 
other clergy ; so that one seldom sees a priest 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church who does 
not show some symptoms of this mental mal- 
ady. But the " parish priests," as these rever- 
end gentlemen now call themselves, furnish but 
poor amusement compared with the American 
bishop. It is absolutely side-splitting to see 
one of these " Fathers in God " rigged out in 
full episcopal habit, with ribbon-tied hat, 
knee-breeches, silk apron, and the rest of it. 
But the fun is not at the highest until, thus 
arrayed, one hears him addressed as *'My 
Lord," and witnesses the glow of inward satis- 
faction which diffuses itself out and over the 
episcopal countenance. 

An American clergyman, with some sense of 
the humorous, told me this little tale : He was 
dining at a house in Paris where bishops most 



231 



AMERICANS IN EUBOPE. 

do, or did, congregate, in company with his 

Father in God — ^the Eight Eeverend . Now 

it so happened that my clerical friend had a lit- 
tle axe which he desired to have ground by epis- 
copal hands. He knew very little of his bishop, 
and had reason to believe that " His Lordship " 
did not regard him with any great degree of 
favor. More than this, he was placed at a dis- 
advantage, in being seated at the bottom of the 
table, whilst the bishop, of course, was at the 
top. The distance, therefore, between the 
Eight Eeverend and the reverend gentleman 
was too great for conversational purposes. 
But my designing friend bided his time till 
there was a lull in the sound of voices above 
him, when suddenly the words "My Lord" 
rose loud and clear from the bottom of the 
table. All eyes were fixed on the speaker, and 
his eyes were fixed on the bishop; so there 
could be no mistake as to who was addressed. 
" My Lord," repeated the reverend speaker, 
"Miss Smith has asked me a very important 
question, which I have referred to Your Lord- 
ship." This did the business for my crafty 
friend, and he has nov/ the place he coveted. 

But, seriously, what has the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in America done to warrant all 



233 



AMBEIGAW3 ON THE RIVIERA. 

its pretence of superiority'? Has tlie Churcli 
produced greater saints, greater scholars, 
greater preachers, greater patriots, or better 
men, in any respect, than its sister Churches ? 

The Episcopal Church in America has not 
been distinguished for either scholarship or 
eloquence. The great Boston preacher who has 
lately passed away, was, of course, an exception, 
and this one great and good man has done 
more to recommend the episcopal service to 
Americans than all the habited and be-stock- 
inged bishops from Maine to Oregon. The 
Episcopal Church, if wisely administered, is 
certain to become the Church of America — as, 
perhaps, it deserves to be ; but it must not in 
the future tolerate snobbery and treason, as 
it has in the past. 

One word more upon this subject. My ob- 
servations of Americans in Europe have con- 
vinced me that episcopalians think less of their 
national traditions than any other class of my 
country people ; this is especially notable on 
the Sunday. They live the Continental life on 
this day more than any other Americans. Now 
I have nothing to say in the way of criticism of 
the manner in which the French or the Ger- 
mans choose to spend their Sundays. They 



233 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 

act according to their traditions, and their con- 
duct is becoming to them. But the Continental 
Sunday is not according to American tra- 
ditions, and does not become Americans ; hence 
they lose in dignity and character by frequent- 
ing theatres and race-courses, on a day which 
in America is given up to religious duties. I 
am not speaking now from a religious, but 
from a moral and national, standpoint. A man 
of true dignity of character respects the cus- 
toms and traditions of his native land, whether 
he believes in them or not ; and everybody re- 
spects him for doing so. 

Americans who pride themselves on living, 
to the full, the Continental life, always and 
everywhere, lose the respect, more or less, of 
the people they imitate. "When you are in 
Kome do as the Romans do." Yes, but a prov- 
erb in the mouth of a fool is always a dangerous 
thing. When the Bishop of Milan (St. Am- 
brose) wrote that epigram, he little thought of 
the base uses to which it would be put. I well 
remember an American family who came to 
Paris some years ago, and plunged at once in- 
to the Continental life. They were " at home 
on Sundays ; " they went to the theatres on Sun- 
days ; they, in fact, did everything on Sunday 



234 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

in Paris which they would not have done in 
New York. They were rich people, and nice peo- 
ple, in many ways, but I felt certain they would 
come to grief ; and they did come to grief. 

The French don't like that sbrt of thing in 
Americans. They knew perfectly well that 
these Americans were violating the customs 
and traditions of their own country, and con- 
cluded, very properly too, that they were not 
the best sort of Americans. 

But at the bottom of this question will be 
found an unmistakably moral element. When 
a Frenchman witnesses a horse-race, or a the- 
atrical play, on Sunday, his moral nature is 
not excited in any way. These things, to his 
mind, have no more to do with religion than 
they have with politics or literature; which 
means nothing at all. Not so the American — 
that is, if he be a real Anglo-Saxon American. 
Sunday, to all such Americans, of whatever 
creed, has moral and religious restraints and 
associations, which are more or less sacred, 
and which cannot be violated without doing 
positive evil — moral and religious evil — to their 
character. 

So that, viewed in every way, the American 
who lives the Continental life seven days in 



235 



AMEmVANS IN EUROPE. 

tli8 week, is, to say the least, not tlie wisest nor 
the best representative of American character. 
More than this : I am fully persuaded that a 
prolonged residence on the Continent, under 
the most favorable circumstances, is always de- 
moralizing to Americans ; and fatally so, if they 
cut entirely loose from the Church, the social 
restraints and the traditions of their native 
land. This applies to the English as well. 
Still, they are somewhat better in this respect 
than the Americans. Their thorough training 
in Church-going bears its fruit everywhere. 
When the Sunday comes round Her Majesty's 
loyal subjects, whoever or wherever they may 
be, look up the English Chaplaincy — and there 
is one in every little nook and corner on the 
Continent — and go and say their prayers in the 
quiet manner so characteristic of everything 
they do. Now, when one thinks of what these 
Continental chaplaincies, for the most part, 
are, one cannot help admiring the self-sacrific- 
ing devotion of the British foreign resident. 

Say what you will about the hypocrisy of 
John Bull, his religious training is a good thing, 
a very good thing, and furnishes him, and 
especially her, with a weekly anchorage which 
has often saved him from moral wreck and 



S36 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

ruin. There are, perhaps, more than three hun- 
dred English Churches — Chaplaincies, as they 
are called — on the Continent of Europe; and 
how many of them are supported, is, I suppose, 
one of the mysteries of Godliness. There are 
only six or seven American Churches all told. 
If the American Church be the fashionable 
Church, the Americans all go to it. If it be 
not, they go to the English Church, or do not 
go at all. Yery many of the English chaplain- 
cies could not possibly exist but for the support 
they receive from Americans. But who ever 
heard of John Bull giving anything for the 
maintenance of Brother Jonathan's house of 
worship ? The plain truth of the matter is that 
the American has his pocket picked by every- 
body in Europe ; and he gets nothing in return 
but patronage, and not always that. This to 
me seems strange — ^passing strange ; for Amer- 
ica is not generally supposed to be a nation of 
idiots. And yet these Americans in Europe 
appear to enjoy this sort of thing. This matter 
has cost me many a sleepless night, and I have 
at last come to the conclusion that Europe is 
the asylum for American fools. 



237 



AMERICANS IN EUROPE. 



A WOKD TO MOTHERS. 

There is one thing about which I wish to say 
a very plain and direct word to American 
mothers. The practice, which is fast increas- 
ing, of American parents sending their daugh- 
ters to Europe to be educated is little less 
than criminal. It may be very well for a young 
lady to know French and German, if she can 
learn these languages in the proper and natural 
course of her studies at home, and by her 
mother's side. But for her parents to send her 
thousands of miles off for these questionable 
accomplishments, is simply monstrous. These 
girls get no real mental training, and the best 
of them even suffer a demoralization whose 
effects can never be wholly effaced. 

The change from American to Continental 
civilization is enough in itself to demoralize a 
young girl who is just at the most susceptible 
period in her life. If they must learn French, 
let them do so in the nursery ; and if they must 
go to Europe — the necessity of which I cannot 
see — let them do so as the wives of honest 
American men. 

If I were made the Dictator of the United 



238 



AMERICANS ON THE EIYIERA. 

States of America, my first act would be to 
issue an edict prohibiting all American women 
unmarried, and under thirty years of age, visit- 
ing Europe under any pretence whatever. And 
I should make thirty -five the prohibiting age 
for men. Furthermore, I should prohibit the 
study of French, and every other foreign lan- 
guage, until the English tongue was thor- 
oughly mastered by my people. 

The Greeks still hold their place, I believe, 
as the masters of the world in Philosophy, 
Literature, and Art ; and the Greeks knew no 
tongue but their own. One can be well taught 
in no language, that is, through the medium of 
no language, but that of his mother tongue. 
The ignorance of American boys and girls who 
have been " educated abroad " is stupendous. A 
European education is simply fatal to the career 
of any American. It unfits him for everything 
in America ; it fits him for nothing in Europe; 
and he is henceforth an alien and a failure on 
the face of the earth, with no country and no 
vocation which he can call his own. 

But a further word about " the languages : " 
if to know French and German, and perhaps 
Italian, is to be accomplished, then the hotel 
porter and the hotel waiter will always be your 



239 



AMERIGAN8 IN EUROPE. 

superiors in point of culture. I do not mean to 
underrate the great convenience of knowing* 
more languages than one's own ; but the knowl- 
edge of a language signifies very little if one 
knows nothing of consequence to say in it. 

The most ignorant bores I have ever met have 
been men — and v/omen, too — ^who could expose 
their ignorance and fatuity in two or three 
languages. A knowledge of two or more lan- 
guages gives a tremendous advantage to dul- 
ness, as Lowell very wittily said in his review 
of that linguistic ass, Percival, who could bray, 
I believe, in six or seven tongues. 

Let American parents keep their sons and 
daughters at home, and teach them Yankee 
gumption, and let the French and the Italian 
alone. Home-bred culture, be it never so 
homely, is infinitely better than European paste 
and varnish. If the Anglo-Saxon race keeps 
the upper hand of things on the American Con- 
tinent, it must stay at home and learn its lessons 
on American soil. No really great American 
was ever educated in Europe. This applies not 
only to statesmen and warriors, and men of 
business, but to scholars; to men of letters 
and men of science ; to Channing and Edwards ; 
to Franklin and Edison ; to Grant and Sher- 



240 



AMERICANS ON THE RIVIERA. 

man ; to Lincoln and Emerson. This will hold 
good in Art, too. If we are ever to have a 
supreme master in American Art, he will not 
be evolved from a Paris studio, or from the 
Roman catacombs ; but from the pure air and 
light of his native land and virgin soil. Let the 
dead nations of Europe bury their dead; but 
go thou, America, and preach the New Gospel 
of the Kingdom of God to a New World. 



END. 



241 



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Loaded Dice. 

By Edgar Fawcett, author of "An Ambitious Woman," 
" The House at High Bridge," etc. i2mo, cloth, 
gilt, $1.25. 

" In ' Loaded Dice ' we have a novel of the most brilliant and fascinating type, aglow 
with all the gleam and glitter of Paris, in which city the scene is laid." 

— Boston Budget. 

Christine. 

By Adeline Sergeant, author of " Beyond Recall," 
"A Life Sentence," etc. i2mo, cloth, ornamental, $1.00. 
Holyrood Series, paper, 50 cents. 

" ' Christine ' has a finished quality that in the artistic sense is exceedingly agreeable. 
The narrative has plenty of effective contrasts, and the descriptive passages are 
admirable in suggestiveness."— 5^j^tf« Beacon. 

Tait, Sons & Company, Publishers, New York. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEIV PUBLICATIONS. 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 

A Study of his Life and Work. By Arthur Waugh, 
B.A. (Oxon.) With portraits and 21 illustrations from 
photographs specially taken for this work. One volume, 
8vo, cloth, gilt top, uncut edges, $3.00. 

" Mr. Waugh has performed his task with admirably good taste, and has let the 
poet's work tell its own story, so far as is possible." — Christian Union. 
"Mr. Waugh, we believe, has been successful in making a study more complete, 
more detailed, and more accurate than any at present in the possession of the 
public." — Boston Literary World, 

The Parsifal of Richard Wagner. 

Translated from the French of Maurice Kufferath. 
Exquisitely illustrated. i2mo, cloth, ornamental, $1.25. 

" This translation is thoroughly efficient throughout, and the work is a significant 
and welcome contribution to the critical literature of a period rich in musical 
interest." — Brooklyn Times. 

Thumb-Nail Sketches 

Of Australian Life. By C. Haddon Chambers, 
author of ** Captain Swift," ''The Idler," etc., etc. 
i2mo, cloth, $1.00. Holyrood Series^ paper, 50 cents. 

"The 'Thumb-Nail Sketches of Australian Life," drawn by C. Haddon Chambers, 
are clear in outline and vivid in coloring, and indicate that the author had a true 
sense of dramatic conception. Whether dealing with mysterious murders, or 
simple incidents of the bush, Mr, Chambers displays descriptive powers of high 
order." — Boston Beacon, 

A Republic Without a President. 

By Herbert D. Ward, author of *' The Master of the 
Magicians," "The New Senior at Andover." i2mo, 
cloth, $1,00. 

" No one of the stories in this volume is developed from a commonplace conception, 
and in all, the author has shown himself not unmindful of artistic possibilities. 
One might name ' The Lost City ' as quite the best thing that Mr. Ward has done in 
this field. It is, in brief, a highly successful example ot vitalized absurdity, and Mr. 
Ward has a right to glory in its novelty and force." — Boston Times, 

Tait, Sons & Company, Publishers, New York. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEIV PUBLICATIONS. 



Who is the Man ? 

By J. Selwin Tait, author of **My Friend Pasquale," 
" The Neapolitan Banker," etc. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth, 
$1.25. 

"A story which, from the opening pages to the last chapter, creates and holds the 
reader's eager interest." — Philadelphia Inquirer. 

"A well sustained story of the concealment and discovery of the authorship of crime. 
The action opens in Wyoming Territory but is continued and concluded on the Scot- 
tish border. The plot is thoroughly natural, and the narrative is vigorous and en= 
grossing."— The Congregationalist, 

The Grand Chaco. 

By George Manville Fenn, author of " The Weather- 
cock," " The Dingo Boys," " In the Wilds of New Mex- 
ico," etc. Profusely illustrated. Large i2mo, cloth, 
ornamental, $1.50. 

" ' The Grand Chaco,* like all of Mr. Fenn's books, is written with vigor and anima- 
tion, and, without being vigorously instructive, vividly impresses the swarrainj: Me 
of these regions upon the reader."— The Boston Herald. 

Stories and Sketches. 

By Grace Greenwood, author of " My Tour in Europe," 
" Queen Victoria, Her Girlhood and Womanhood," etc. 
i2mo, cloth, gilt, $1.00. 

*' The work is permeated with a genuine womanly sentiment, and will appeal to a 
wide variety of tastes." — Boston Beacon. 

" The volume is charming and especially to be commended to young readers, because 
it is what they should be, ' bright and not too knowing.' " — Boston Herald. 

Furono Amati. 

A Romance. By L. C. ELLSWORTH, author of *'A Little 

Worldling," etc. i2mo, cloth, gilt, $1.00. 

" This powerful little story of New York life contains soul, motive, and inspiration, 
which demand its reading as the price of the interpretation thereof. ... It 
shows, with a few bold and simple strokes, the invariable fatality of socially ill-assorted 
marriages. It is a work of high literary aims and execution." 

— New York Evening Telegram. 

Tait, Sons & Company, Publishers, New York. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEIV PUBLICATIONS. 

The Diary of Nobody. 

By George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith. 
Illustrated. i2mo, cloth, $1.25. 

" It is quite unnecessary to praise these delightful studies of English middle-class 
life. Those to whom Pandora has denied this glimpse of respectable wonderland will 
find in this book faithful pictures of life as it is. If you think this is exaggeration, 
read the book for yourselves ; whatever your conclusions may be, you will never 
regret it." — Toronto Week. 

The Old Maid's Club. 

By I. Zangwill, author of "• The Bachelor's Club," "■ The 
Big Bow Mystery," etc. With illustrations. i2mo, cloth, 
ornamental, $1.25. 

" It seemed to the girl who organized 'The Old Maid's Club' that peoples* minds 
ought to be cleared of certain notions regarding spinsterhood. Some of Mr. 
Zangwill's wittiest work is embodied in his account of the club's doings. His style is 
pungent and ironical. It is needle-pointed satire pricking some of the foibles of the 
time." — Providence Journals 

My Friend Pasquale. 

By J. Selwin Tait, author of "Who is the Man?" 
"The Neapolitan Banker," etc. i2mo, cloth, $1.00. 

" Real engrossing bits of fiction, with most thrilling experiences which exercise not 
only the imagination of the inspired chronicler, but the fancy of the peruser." 

— A merican Hebrew. 
" Neither de Boisgoby nor Gaboriau have ever conceived such an idea as ' My 
Friend Pasquale.' ' The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ' pales before 
it. . . . The author has undoubtedly the power of depicting ' strong situations ' 
in clear colors." — Toronto Week, 

Life and Sylvia. 

A Christmas Journey. By JOSEPHINE Balestier. With 
illustrations by Margaret Wendell Huntingdon. 8vo, 
boards, illuminated covers, 50 cents. 

" It is a charming picture which Miss Balestier has drawn of the carefully nurtured 
child who has lived with fairies all her life, calling upon her ' invisible body-guard 
and council with whom she walked continually' in every perplexity. The book is 
charmingly illustrated, and the whole is a dainty bit of bookmaking." 

— Boston Times. 

Tait, Sons & Company, Publishers, New York. 



ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEJV PUBLICATIONS. 



When I Lived in Bohemia. 

By Fergus Hume, author of ''Madam Midas," "The 
Mystery of a Hansom Cab," etc. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth, 

$1.25. 

"A very entertaining book, full of fun and wit, interspersed with bits of poetry, pi- 
quant cuts, and sarcasm." — Albany Press. 

'* There is splendid fun in this book. In recent fiction I have read no finer satire 
than its account of ' Physical Drama.' "—New York Recorder. 

A Battle and a Boy. 

By Blanche Willis Howard, author of ''Guenn," 
''The Open Door," etc. i2mo, cloth, $1.00. 

♦• The picture which this story presents of German life and customs, so unfatxiiliar to 
us, is graphic and entertaining. To both old and young 'A Battle and a Boy ' will 
be found absorbing, and the boy who reads it will be instructed as well as inter- 
ested."— ^^>y^(7« Times. 



The Last Confession 



By Hall Caine, author of " The Scapegoat," " The Bond- 
man," etc. 1 2mo, cloth, $1.00. 

" Hall Caine is among the most virile of contemporary English writers. His stories 
are purposeful, finished, and decidedly dramatic. The volume at hand contains 
' The Last Confession ' and ' The Blind Mother.' Each is powerful, though differ- 
ently so. The former is very colorful, dealing chiefly with scenes in Morocco. In 
' The Blind Mother ' there is more pathos, though hardly less tragedy : soul and 
heart tragedy, not the sanguinary type. Both stories are very readable." 

— Boston Times. 

The Secret of Narcisse. 

A Romance. By Edmund Gosse, author of "Gossip 
in a Library," "On Viol and Flute," etc. i2mo, cloth, 
gilt, $1.00. 

"A ronjance of the sixteenth century. The time and scene admit of a high degree 
of color ; and this the author has given his story. Its literary excellence is excep- 
tional." — Boston Courier, 

"A story not alone cleverly imagined but carefully worked out. It has mediaeval 
colorings, dark shadows, and vivid flashes. * The Secret of Narcisse' is a little mas- 
terpiece." — New York Times. 

Tait, Sons & Company, Publishers, New York. 



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